Letter: Wastewater-related tax hikes unfair to many Warrenites

Posted 1/17/17

To the editor: Currently, the Town of Warren pays for all the town’s wastewater system maintenance and upgrades primarily through a flat tax assessed on all resident, agricultural, and business …

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Letter: Wastewater-related tax hikes unfair to many Warrenites

Posted

To the editor:
Currently, the Town of Warren pays for all the town’s wastewater system maintenance and upgrades primarily through a flat tax assessed on all resident, agricultural, and business property. This represents approximately 7 percent of our tax rate (per $1,000) on all taxable property. To pay for the approved upgrade to the wastewater plant, this percentage will increase to 13 percent of our current tax rate. This tax is assessed regardless of resident, agricultural or business actual use of, or access to, the town’s wastewater system. As a result, many residents are and will be charged a fee that does not reflect their actual use of the town’s wastewater system. This approach forces many Warren residents to subsidize the higher water usage and wastewater demands of other users.
For example, the absentee landlord-owner of a three-family tenement, with a town-assessed value of $200,000, pays the same amount in taxes as a lifelong Warren elderly resident couple whose home is also valued at $200,000. Thus, despite the fact that the tenement’s demands on the wastewater system are triple those of the elderly couple, the annual wastewater fee charged by the the Town of Warren, at 13 percent or $519, will be the same for both the absentee landlord receiving rent from three families as it is for the elderly couple using less than one third the water and discharging one third of the wastewater compared to the tenements' three families.
The same holds true for businesses which often place a much greater demand on the town’s wastewater system, yet are charged only on their property value. The current system makes no financial allowance for actual water use or for water conservation and, in fact, does nothing to encourage conservation of limited water resources.
Further, Warren residents who live in areas not served by the town’s wastewater system and who cannot access that system are charged the same property tax percentage as residents who do discharge their waste into the town’s system. The town’s current practice of funding its wastewater system through property taxes is unjust to all Warren residents. Of the 30 cities and towns in Rhode Island, 29 fund their wastewater systems through a fee based directly on actual water usage. Only Warren bases its wastewater system funding on a flat property tax which places an unfair economic burden on many Warren residents. It is time to change the Town of Warren’s current property tax approach to funding the town’s wastewater system to a more just and fair approach based on actual water usage. The Bristol County Water Authority provides this information, at no charge, to both Bristol and Barrington, allowing these towns to better serve their residents. It is time for Warren to do the same. 
The above letter was sent to the Warren Town Council from members of the Touisset Residents Group. To reach the group via founder Tim Hays, e-mail him at sailtwo@fullchannel.net or call him at 401-486-8041.

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