We also sympathize with the victims of the recent hurricanes in Puerto Rico and the Gulf states.
And we are grateful that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had the foresight to build dikes for our city and construct 17 dams on the tributaries of the Connecticut River after the flood of 1938.
In response to the letter from Two Degrees (“Support Northampton flood control utility,” Oct. 20), we would like to point out that it is using the same misinformation and exaggeration put forward by the mayor and the City Council when they were formulating the stormwater fee.
In order to recertify our dikes after Hurricane Irene and save the downtown from losing flood insurance, the Army Corps of Engineers only required that the city remove trees (some that were left to grow as large as 36 inches in diameter) and cut back brush encroachments on the dikes. The Army Corps of Engineers never declared our flood control system antiquated.
The fact is that the city government never kept up its end of the bargain with the Army Corps of Engineers to maintain the dikes. When the dikes were restored (using borrowed money, not stormwater fees) the dikes were certified again by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Regarding clean water and the stormwater fee, the Environmental Protection Agency has set new clean-water rules that simply require more street sweeping, education and water testing. In neither case is there any requirement that we pay $2 million a year forever to maintain a stormwater system that should be covered by our property taxes.
We find the stormwater fee to be an undemocratic, unscientific and regressive tax. There is no scientific basis for the runoff calculations other than out-of-date aerial photographs that fail to measure the true hydraulic runoff of a property. Almost all citizens have found fault with these specious calculations.
Unfortunately, obtaining a fair abatement entails tangling with an obstructionist city government. Why should we have to fight for each and every property when the city couldn’t take the time to calculate true measurements in the first place?
The stormwater fee is just like the Community Preservation Act or an override. We have the right to vote on increases in our taxes, especially one with no sundown clause.
It is time for reason to rule over misinformation and exaggeration.
Frederic S. Mackler
Florence
The letter also was signed by three other members of the Repeal the Stormwater Fee Committee.