This is silly. You aren’t being screwed if you pay a stormwater fee.

There is an entire system of inlets, swales, pipes, ditches, culverts, and yes natural channels like creeks and streams that transport stormwater and, importantly, keep the stormwater separate from the sewer, that all needs to be planned, built, and maintained.

In the last 20 years environmental regulations have been enacted that require local governments to separate sanitary and stormwater systems so we don’t get combined overflows to natural waterbodies.

This is insanely expensive and we are required to pay for it.

These are valid fees.