There’s a new fee on water service in Platte City, thanks to a state law pertaining to water pollution control.
The Missouri Clean Water Law was recently amended. It now requires persons with a direct or indirect sewer service connection to a public sewer system owned or operated by a city, public sewer district, public water district, or other publicly owned treatment works shall pay an annual fee.
The fee is to be collected by the agency billing the customers—in this instance the City of Platte City—and remitted to the state at least once per year.
Platte City has chosen to remit the Clean Water Law fees collected from customers during the month of September.
“This is mandatory unfunded legislation imposed by the state,” Platte City Mayor Frank Offutt explained this week. “All the money goes to the state—none of it stays here in Platte City.”
Though for the sake of clarity, the ordinance passed by the city board at its most recent meeting calls for 5% of the fee revenue collected by the city to be retained by the city as “reimbursement,” presumably to cover expenses associated with making the collection.
The fees are:
- Seventy cents per year for residential customers.
- Three dollars per year per water service connection for all other customers with water service connections of less than or equal to one inch, excluding taps for fire suppression and irrigation systems.
- Ten dollars per year per water service connection for all other customers with water service connections of more than one inch but less than or equal to four inches excluding taps for suppression and irrigation systems.
- Twenty five dollars per year per water service connection for all other customers with water service connections of more than four inches, excluding taps for fire suppression and irrigation.
Fees are remitted to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources by the city. The money goes toward the state’s Water Pollution Control Program.
Fees established by this ordinance shall expire on Dec. 31, 2007, the ordinance states.