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Could you imagine if the water supplied to your house, or the wastewater leaving your house was treated, transmitted and available for unlimited use without a charge? Likewise, think about the electricity that powers all those appliances and gadgets throughout your home. What if it was provided at no cost? Fat chance you say – and you are right. We have long recognized that the infrastructure vital to our way of life cannot be effective, reliable, and … free. We accept that there is a constant need for maintenance, repair, new equipment, expanded service, environmental controls, and some administration to keep connections, accounts and service needs under control. We understand that for every cubic foot of water used or wastewater

Over the last year, while the 10 largest Mary­land juris­dic­tions were devel­op­ing fund­ing pro­grams to ensure the main­te­nance and improve­ment of stormwa­ter infra­struc­ture, a small, but vocal oppo­si­tion referred to this effort as the “rain tax”. This catchy lit­tle phrase led to some inter­est­ing sound bites, such as: “Tax the rain? Next it will be the air we breathe.” or “Mary­land taxes any­thing that moves.” Here’s my favorite, from the Gov­er­nor of Texas, “In Mary­land they tax rain, in Texas we pray for rain”. Well, there is another side to this nar­ra­tive. It’s not the rain but the runoff that is the cul­prit here. In sim­ple terms, rain falls from the sky– end of story. On the other hand, runoff