Proposed Lexington Tax Will Impact Rednour Properties

Something to think about: For most people, the new Lexington storm-water fee being proposed Thursday by Mayor Jim Newberry is simple: One house equals $4.16 a month.

For stores, churches, schools, factories and apartment buildings, it gets more complicated — and more expensive.

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The fee is based on a unit of measurement the city is calling an Equivalent Residential Unit. One unit represents 2,500 square feet of impervious surface, which is the amount of non-absorbent area — rooftops, driveways, sidewalks — on the average residential lot.

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[Commercial property owners' tax burden] is based on the number of Equivalent Residential Units of impervious surface on the parcel.

For example, the Herald-Leader building at the corner of Midland Avenue and East Main Street has 237,500 square feet of rooftop, sidewalks and parking lots. That works out to 95 residential units, for a monthly fee of $395.20, or an annual cost of $4,742.40.

Potential Savings: Commercial property owners can reduce their storm-water tax by as much as 20 percent through a number of possible projects that reduce the amount of water going into the storm sewers. Projects include creating a rain garden, adding a retention or detention basin that goes beyond current requirements or switching some impervious land to pervious. A standard parking lot, for example, could be replaced by one that allows rainwater to pass through.

The Rednour Team will be looking at this tax in two ways: One, can it be avoided? That's a question for LFCUG and we'll make our voice heard there. Two, what can we do to mitigate our tax burden should the tax pass? More in the future, so stay tuned...