Feel my anger

In Florida the city of Cape Coral recently sent out letters to about 60,000 property owners, letting people know what they would have to pay for city utility expansions. In nine years, Cape Coral City Councilman Tim Day said he has never seen so many angry e-mails in response.

“It’s going to be a challenge to stay the course,” said Day, the longest-serving member of the city council. “I’m expecting extreme turmoil on June 30 (the first public hearing on UEP).”

Cape Coral officials this fall plan to start work on a three-year project to deliver city utilities to half of the city. The cost of that project will get passed on to property owners as special assessments and fees. Property owners have more deferral and financing options than in the past, but many are still upset.

The city is planning to install water, sewer and irrigation lines to about 6,200 properties in the Southwest 6-7 assessment area and potable water lines to more than 50,000 properties in the north Cape. Property owners will be charged a special assessment to pay for the pipes and a capital expansion charge to help offset the cost of new water and sewer treatment facilities.

Some water billing software provides for financing options to be billed to utility customers.

Replacing property tax

Voters in British Columbia recently re-elected Premier Gordon Campbell, the driving force behind BC's carbon tax. By 2012, the tax will reach about $30 per ton of carbon dioxide, or about 30 cents per gallon of gasoline. Money from the tax is used to reduce other taxes in a "revenue-neutral tax shift," and voters showed their support by backing Campbell and his right-of-center party for a rare third consecutive term. Across the border, two writers opine in the Seattle Times that Washington State should head in the same direction, replacing or winding down the state's property-based taxes with a carbon tax.

Start by eliminating the state property tax, they write, an idea floated a few years ago by the Washington State Tax Structure Committee chaired by Bill Gates Sr. The tax is unpopular and repealing it would ensure that it goes away for good. Control over property taxes then would be entirely in the hands of local voters in cities and counties, and the total burden on the state's property owners would immediately fall by 25 percent.

What about the state's public schools, which currently receive every dollar raised by the state property tax? That's where the carbon tax comes in. A tax on fossil fuels of $30 per ton of carbon dioxide — the same rate as in British Columbia — would be more than enough to backfill the lost revenue.

California's property tax mess

A history lesson. According to some critics it all started in 1978 with Prop. 13, the landmark measure passed by voters that put a cap on property taxes - and reduced them by an average 57 percent. Due to the measure, "the state now relies heavily on income tax and, secondarily, on sales tax" for its revenue stream, and those are "highly cyclically sensitive," Noll said.

State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat from Sacramento, agrees. "Until we tackle that intended or unintended consequence of Prop. 13," he said, "we won't fix the system." But Jon Coupal, who heads the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association - the nation's largest taxpayer association, named after the author of Prop. 13 - said Steinberg and his fellow Democrats are "still in a state of denial." "Not only did Prop. 13 not slow down the tax burden" on California landowners, he argued. "We're not a low-tax property tax state. We're in the middle." He said efforts to rework the measure - a so-called "split roll" that could recalculate and possibly increase commercial rates - would be exactly the wrong message to business and job-creators in the current fiscal crisis.

And all that property tax billing software will have to be reconfigured.

Unpaid bills amnesty

In Arizona, delinquent utility users in Surprise's Original Town Site owed the city about $262,000 in unpaid sewer and trash bills - some a decade old - but the city forgave 81 percent of the debt, according to public records. The City Council in March established the amnesty program, allowing people in 101 households to set up a payment plan with the city to bring their accounts current.

As of last week, about 20 percent of the accounts have been paid in full, but 14 people who set up payment plans have defaulted on them, resulting in a planned water shutoff either late this month or in July. The remaining debt is $40,102. However, the city will not see about $9,576 of that amount because 21 accounts are closed. City officials said that the customer moved out of the property or the land is now vacant. In one case, the customer died. The utility billing software contains a facility to write bills off.

The costs of water

Water has not only to be collected, stored and distributed; it must also be pumped. Running pumps use electricity. Electricity is not a cost of water that comes immediately to mind; nevertheless as electricity costs rise, so do some of the inputs to water costs. The water billing software prices charged o customers should reflect all of the inputs.

Everybody wants to cut their electric bill including the Lewisburg Water and Wastewater Department (TN) and last week the utility's board decided to investigate a way to do it. The utility might save $1,000 a month, thereby lowering a $15,000 part of its monthly $20,000 bill by almost 7 percent at a cost of $36,000, but that means the system pays for itself in three years, officials said.

Concessions for seniors

Many local governments give their seniors - or some of them - discounts or exemptions from property tax. Their tax billing software needs to include algorithms to calculate the amount of the discount according to the various rules. In Will County, IL, beginning in 1994, a Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption was granted for those 65 years or older who own and occupy a residence and do not exceed established income requirements.

The current annual income limit is $55,000. The law sets a July 1 deadline for submitting an application, but allows counties to establish a different date by ordinance. On Thursday, the Will County Board approved the extension. The exemption allows senior citizens to have their home's equalized assessed valuation frozen at a base year value and prevent or limit any increase due to inflation.

What happens when you don't pay that property tax

n a move that has historically proved controversial in Williamstown (Vermont), board members this week authorized Town Manager Garrett Earls to take the town's most delinquent property owners to tax sale. Based on the board's vote the tax sales will be scheduled 10 at a time in 90-day intervals starting on Sept. 1. The board's goal is to whittle away at a delinquent tax figure that Earls said was hovering around $315,000 at the end of last month. According to Earls, the town has agreements with some property owners to pay more than $80,000 of that figure, but the balance remains uncollected and – to date – uncollectible.

The mere threat of tax sales – something that hasn't happened in Williamstown in several years – could change that by prompting tardy taxpayers to enter agreements to pay delinquencies, which in some cases are years old.

The alternative involves picking up legal fees involved with the tax sale in addition to the 8 percent penalties and accumulating interest of 1 percent per month associated with having missed the tax deadline in the first place. That money would be owed to the town in one non-negotiable lump-sum payment within one year of the time the property is brought to tax sale. That could prove far more challenging for some than entering into a repayment agreement under a newly adopted policy that essentially allows for any past-due taxes, penalties and interest to be paid off incrementally over a span of 18 months while requiring property owners to pay future tax bills on a timely basis.

This week Earls presented the board with seven delinquent accounts totaling nearly $57,000 that could be considered for tax sale. After reviewing that list board members instructed Earls to bring back a batch of 10 – focusing on the oldest delinquencies without regard to the amount owed. They suggested that process be repeated every 90 days until the delinquent amount is brought down to a more manageable level.

Their tax billing software will have a debt management module that will enable such properties to be identified and flagged automatically.

California's water supplies

Mandatory water restrictions could be the beginning of a new way of life in California. Three key factors are reducing California's water supply:

- A third year of drought.

- Judicial restrictions on pumping from the state water project to save endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

- And the Colorado River Basin has been in a drought for eight of the past 10 years.

Add to the mix a growing population in the Southwestern United States and you have a water future that's uncertain at best. And that will reduce the amount of water that can be sold. Fortunately well-designed water billing software can add a premium to the price when ater restrictions are flagged.

Outdated dance permits

The Des Moines parks board wants to throw out an ordinance that requires permits for organized dances and mandates that they end by 2 a.m. The Des Moines Social Club complained about the 67-year-old ordinance. The parks board "can find no public purpose for singling out dancing from other types of gatherings for regulation," a proposed resolution reads. "This ordinance reflects poorly on the city and harms our efforts to project the city as forward-thinking, tolerant and supportive of an attractive cultural environment," it adds.

Parks board member Loyd Ogle, who is also president of the Des Moines Music Coalition, said the ordinance "has a dampening effect ... because people are hesitant." An online petition has gathered 529 signatures from people who organizers say "feel that they have the right to dance all night long if they decide to do so. Dancing is not illegal and, in Des Moines, it is treated as so."

Doubtless the permit billing software has other permit uses.

New Jersey finds $400 million

It seems that because of an unprecedented state-wide response to proposals Governor Corzine implemented in December 2008, New Jersey has $400 million in new-found revenue. Today, Governor Corzine urged the Legislature to put that wind-fall toward property tax relief for middle-class homeowners. "I want to convey in the strongest possible terms, my commitment to using these recovered resources to provide middle class homeowners with much needed property tax relief," said Governor Corzine. "Let me be clear. When revenues fell, the last item we cut was property tax relief. Now that we've recovered some lost revenues the first thing we will restore is property tax relief." The Governor also highlighted his commitment to preventing special interest groups from diverting this new-found revenue away from New Jersey's taxpayers.

Georgia tries to cool property tax increases

The Georgia Department of Revenue is moving to eliminate one excuse that local officials give when they're raising property taxes: The state made us do it. The department, at the direction of Gov. Sonny Perdue, is trying to make sure county officials know they don't have to revalue property every three years. The department is proposing a new regulation that, among other things, spells that out.

The state requires that counties keep property assessed at 40 percent of fair market value and that property be assessed uniformly. State officials say counties have interpreted the law to say property had to be revalued every few years. "We're essentially taking away that excuse so counties can run their own businesses and make sure they revalue properly," Perdue said. "But they won't be able to use the excuse that the state made us do it.

County officials say they don't know if the regulation, which could become final by the end of the summer, will have any impact. And they dispute the notion state officials often nurture that local government spending is out of control.

Utilities consolidation

Government utilities working together will ensure Saudi Arabia's power and water demands are met, Middle East Business Intelligence reports. Responsibility for the power and water sectors in Saudi Arabia is shared between four separate government owned utilities - the Water & Electricity Company, Saudi Electricity Company, the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) and the Power & Water Utility for Jubail & Yanbu (Marafiq).

Despite the companies all being tasked with ensuring the kingdom's growing demand for power and water is met, they have so far pursued this objective completely independently of each other. Now, spurred by the global economic slowdown, they have seen the error of their ways and recognised the need for a co-ordinated response to the demand picture. As a result, Marafiq and SWCC are now planning to merge what were to be two separate projects located at Yanbu.

SWCC and Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) also intend to combine their power and water schemes at Ras al-Zour. In both cases, the government has abandoned plans to develop the projects as private schemes and is opting instead for the more conventional engineering, procurement and construction approach. Greater co-operation between the various stakeholders in the power and water industries will ensure that the right amount of new capacity is built where it is needed and in the most efficient way possible. Marafiq, SWCC and Maaden have been forced into this position by the economic downturn.

Subsidising solar

In Nevada, solar energy generation is being subsidized (encouraged?) through extended property tax abatements for renewable energy production plants, which were to expire in this year, and expanded them from 50 percent for 10 years to 55 percent for 20 years. The Las Vegas Sun newspaper reports that solar energy developers had been worried about a fierce stance by Assemblywoman Kirkpatrick, who began the year saying she would not support the industry’s request for a 75 percent property tax abatement and would impose a new tax on renewable energy. The revenue would go to offset higher energy costs for ratepayers.

Kirkpatrick was concerned that solar plants would not bring many permanent jobs to Nevada, and that solar plant construction jobs have gone to out-of-state workers in the past. But the possibility of a new tax “brought development to a halt,” said renewable energy lobbyist Tom Clark. “It sent a red flag to every developer.”

More water prices rises

Wichita, Kansas is set to follow the world-wide trend to higher water bills. The monthly water bill would increase by $2 under a proposal that the Wichita City Council is scheduled to vote on 16 June. The proposed increase comes one year after Wichita's most recent monthly water bill increase of $1 and is meant to make up for an $8.8 million shortfall in projected revenue that the water utility experienced in 2008. If passed, the rate increase would be effective with customers' August bill. There are more rate increases to come. In August, the council is expected to consider a 5 percent rate increase for next year. By 2013, a family that uses a lot of water will be paying about 30 percent more for water and sewer services.

Selfless?

Politicians and many commentators are keen to beat the lower taxes drum. But for many, taxes are the price we pay for living in a community in which we have pride. This is borne out by news from Massachusetts that despite hardships, programs have been preserved. In a baffling trend playing out against an abysmal economy, voters have approved property tax increases in at least 11 communities around Boston in recent weeks, reaching into their own pockets to preserve libraries, schools, and public safety services.

Among them was the town of Rockland, which has passed only one other property tax override since voters enacted Proposition 2 1/2 more than 25 years ago. Late last month, as people around the state watched every penny, not to mention every tax dollar, Rockland voted to raise its property taxes to save an elementary school and a library. At least five communities have also rejected property tax increases in recent weeks, but the passage by 11 other communities underscores the impact of budget cuts on cities and towns.

Selling waste

A Washington County sewer utility found a way to get rid of some of its most troublesome pollutants: sell them to gardeners. Clean Water Services installed a system at its Durham treatment plant that pulls phosphorus and ammonia from sewage waste and processes them into fertilizer pellets that are then sold to nurseries. The system, which began operating last month, is the first of its kind in the United States, and it’s drawing some big-name attention.

The project cost $2.5 million, including approximately $1 million for construction. Boring-based fabricator Marks Brothers built the stainless steel tanks and Stettler remodeled the existing facility to accommodate the new system. Ostara will market the fertilizer and split the profits with Clean Water Services, which expects to recoup the project cost in five years.

China's water crisis

If you don't have it you can sell it - or bill for it. And if it's not clean, consumers may not want it anyway. Business Week reports that over the past year getting clean water has been a struggle for many in China. In February one of the most severe droughts to hit China in a half-century affected some 5 million people and 2.5 million livestock in the provinces of Hebei and Henan, near Beijing. Farther south in Yancheng, Jiangsu, 300 kilometers from Shanghai, more than 200,000 people were cut off from clean water for three days when a chemical factory dumped carbolic acid into a river. Just before the Olympics last June, the coastal city of Qingdao, site of the sailing events, saw an explosion of algae in nearby waters that may have been caused by pollution.

These are hardly unusual in China. The country that has a long history of devastating floods and droughts arguably faces an even bigger water crisis today. After almost 30 years of double-digit economic growth and the migration of hundreds of millions of villagers to the cities, China has been barely able to meet the spike in demand for water. Its resources were scarce to begin with and pollution has made clean water even scarcer. Another unknown: the effect of climate change. "Based on our country's basic water situation, [we] must implement the strictest water resource management," said Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu at a national water conference in Beijing in January.

Paying for recycling

It is reported that Oshkosh residents will pay for carts that will be used as part of the city’s switch to automated recycling this fall. Going against a vote from last fall, the Oshkosh Common Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to go ahead with assessing a one-time special fee on property taxes to pay for recycling carts, charging homeowners $46.51 for a 95-gallon cart and $40.18 for a 64-gallon cart. Initially, the council voted 6-1 in November to finance the carts over 10 years. During a discussion on the matter in March, the majority of the councilors expressed desire to switch to the special fee so the city decided to take another vote on the matter.

In discussion of how to pay for the carts, councilors said charging property owners encourages them to take responsibility for their carts. "There’s an ownership associated with it," said councilor Harold Buchholz. Now the city plans to go ahead with its education process over the summer, teaching residents how the switch will affect them. City Manager Mark Rohloff said information will be mailed out to Oshkosh residents regarding the switch and a Web site on single-stream recycling created.

In information mailed out, Public Works Director David Patek said the city would give residents the option of obtaining a 95-gallon or 64-gallon cart. If the residents do not specifically request a 64-gallon cart, they will be provided with the larger cart. As part of the switch to single-stream, residents will put all recyclables – paper, plastic, cardboard, glass – in the one bin for pick up every two weeks.

"I think people will be surprised once they get cardboard and other recyclables in there that they will be able to use that (95-gallon) bin pretty readily," Rohloff said.

The effects of scarcity

The higher value ascribed to water has less to do with depletion and scarcity than cost. While there's as much water on the planet as there has ever been, cheap water is in short supply. "All the easily tapped sources have already been tapped," by damming up rivers and other methods, says Neil Berlant, lead manager of the PFW Water Fund (PFWAX), the only open-end mutual fund focused exclusively on water-related stocks. What remains are more expensive sources of water—from oceans, groundwater, or reclaimed used water—which require either desalination, chemical disinfectants, or other processes to be made suitable for drinking.

There's plenty of technology available to clean up water to meet increasingly strict public safety standards, but consumers will have to get use to paying higher rates to local water systems to pay for the necessary treatment. People in the developing world have long had little access to clean drinking water because of how much it costs.

Scarcity

If you don't have it, you can't bill for it. If there weren't enough for businesses to worry about these days, here is another threat: water scarcity. Companies in industries from technology to agriculture to apparel are vulnerable to the risks posed by a falling supply of available water, according to a report released Feb. 26 by the Boston-based investor coalition Ceres and the Oakland (Calif.)-based Pacific Institute.

Decreasing water availability, declining water quality, and increasing water demand are creating major new challenges for businesses and investors who have historically taken clean cheap water for granted, says the report. It warns of water shortages in many areas of the world in the coming decades and urges companies and investors to examine business's exposure to water scarcity risks to prevent them from eating into revenues and harming corporate reputations.

"This report makes clear that companies and investors can no longer take water for granted," says Anne Stausboll, chief executive of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest U.S. public pension fund, with approximately $170 billion in assets. CalPERS is a member of Ceres. "For many years, CalPERS has advocated for corporate disclosure of environmental risks, and it's clear that this disclosure must include water-related risks and opportunities."

Saving money

America's love affair with locking people up is butting its head against the recession. State of Michigan officials said Friday that the state is closing three prisons and five prison camps in hopes of narrowing a $1.4 billion budget gap for fiscal 2010. The state, which has been hammered by the auto industry meltdown, estimates that it will save $120 million by shuttering the eight facilities. None of the 4,149 prisoners in the facilities will be released early, but up to 1,000 workers may lose their jobs. The State is targeting the correctional system because it takes up 22% of the state's general fund budget, the largest component. (Education is funded separately.) The state must close the $1.4 billion gap before its fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

Michigan is not alone in turning to its prison system for savings. Some 25 states cut spending on corrections in fiscal 2009 and another 25 are proposing to do so in fiscal 2010, as they struggle to address massive budget shortfalls. "It's a trend we'll be seeing more and more of in coming months given the dire revenue situation states are in," said Sujit CanagaRetna, senior fiscal analyst at the Council of State Governments, a research group.

Recycling. What recycling?

Cities that manage their own trash collections and get their citizens to pay via their property taxes or utility bills apparently may not be doing so well these days, according to CNN. When Lynn Heinisch and her neighbors in Atlanta's Lake Claire neighborhood take their recycling to the curb for pickup each Thursday, they cross their fingers and hope for the best. Accusing city collectors of unreliable pickups, Heinisch and the others have resorted to stockpiling recyclable materials in their garages.

"It's frustrating," Heinisch said. "People are trying to recycle, and it's not easy. I wish it was easy to do what we all feel strongly about." When she has to, Heinisch drives her recycling 4 miles to a dropoff center in the town of Decatur.

The recession has trashed the nation's booming recycling industry in just a few months, and cities are straining to keep their programs alive. Demand for commodities such as cardboard, paper and glass has taken a nose dive, and prices for those materials have gone south since last fall. In August, a recycler in Georgia could expect to receive about $160 a ton for curbside recyclables. Now the average is about $37 a ton.

User Pays

In the Australian state of South Australia, government-set water charges will rise substantially to cover the cost of a new de-salination plant. The state capital city, Adelaide, is almost wholly dependant on water from the River Murray, a resource they share with irrigation-based farmers further up the river. A record $2.1 billion will be provided over four years for a range of initiatives to secure South Australia's water supplies. Adelaide's desalination plant, stormwater harvesting, treated wastewater recycling and infrastructure upgrades all received money from the Budget. Work to protect and improve the health of the River Murray will also receive almost $260 million.

State Premier Mike Rann said the "heart of this Budget is water ... and the heart of that is the desalination plant". State Treasurer Kevin Foley said the investment would give certainty that the state would not run out of water during severe droughts. "There is a huge amount of construction on water infrastructure projects occurring all over Adelaide – not in years to come, it is happening right now," he said. Mr Foley expects about 2000 jobs in the construction industry will be supported by the investment in water security.

In a nutshell

Property tax billing software must convert a property assessment into a billing statement. The Tax Bill is then issued to the taxpayer or to the Mortgage company often via some form of integration. Well-designed tax billing software enjoys dynamic calculation flexibility, which allows it to operate in the US and internationally.

State intervention

Two Australian states have recently announced a restructure of their water industry. Queensland's restructure was announced in 2008 and is now underway. Tasmania's is more recent. The Tasmanian Government has now withdrawn its offer to guarantee revenue to councils during the transition to a new water and sewerage system.

The Treasurer announced the decision last night, pending further discussions with councils about the rebate scheme for pensioners. Michael Aird offered the revenue guarantee last week after councils expressed doubts about adequate financial returns under the water and sewerage changes.

But councils are also worried about having to foot the bill for the rebate scheme for pensioners, instead of the State Government. Hobart's Lord Mayor Rob Valentine says it is sensible to withdraw the revenue guarantee while the issue's resolved. "The government's to be applauded for pulling it to be quite honest," he said. Mr Aird now wants to discuss the issue with the Local Government Association. "It gives some time for further discussions to be had without this letter being on the table."

The water and sewerage changes are due to take effect from July 1.

The dead have their uses

Four people are accused of using tax breaks for their dead relatives to avoid paying property taxes on their homes says the Miami Herald. For 18 years, Julian Grande received a special tax break for disabled homeowners from the Miami-Dade property appraiser. But Grande was more than disabled. He's been dead since 1990.

Grande's daughter, Maria, is one of four people now facing criminal charges for allegedly exploiting property-tax breaks meant for relatives long dead. According to investigators with Miami-Dade's inspector general and the state attorney's office, the four people continued to file property-tax records indicating their disabled relatives were alive -- forging signatures, in some cases. Along with Maria Grande, those arrested were: Dane Taylor, 60, of Palmetto Bay; Philip Espinosa, 50, of Miami; and Telenia Piedra, 59, of Miami.

Investigators say the four wrongly benefited from a special tax exemption for quadriplegics and others with profound disabilities and low incomes. Beneficiaries of the tax break must submit medical records to qualify, and in some cases they must file financial information annually to prove eligibility. In 2007, 729 homes in Miami-Dade were untaxed under this exemption.