Richmond Hill farmers outraged by soaring stormwater charges despite not receiving service from city

Hundredfold increase on stormwater bills due to new fee structure introduced by city this year, replacing flat-fee system in place since 2013

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 30, 2022
Sheila Wang

The fall season is here, but this year’s harvest is not top of mind for Richmond Hill farmer Paul Doner, whose family has owned a farm on Leslie Street for more than two centuries.

The Doner family has been grappling with two unexpectedly high bills from the City of Richmond Hill for stormwater management -- a service the farm he says does not get - over the past few weeks.

On the last day of August, the family received the bills, which Doner said he first thought to be the ones they get around this time every year since 2013.

But these bills were rather a shocker.

The Doners, who used to pay less than $150 a year, are now asked to pay more than $1,200 a month for the city’s stormwater management, which is almost $15,000 a year, according to the bills.

“The bill is higher than our property tax,” Doner said. “It’s wrong to charge someone for something they don’t receive.”

Doner's farm has never been connected to the city’s water system, as the properties are on well. Neither does the farm receive any stormwater management service from the city.

Primarily an open field, Doner said, his family farm has a permeable surface that has little to no runoff. When it rains, the water will be absorbed by their farm fields or flow down into one of the two ponds on their property, which the family maintain by themselves.

“All properties in Richmond Hill benefit from citywide stormwater management,” said Gigi Li, director of the city’s financial services and treasurer. “The city is unable to comment on specific properties.”

Stormwater comes from rain and melting snow that flows into the storm sewers or stormwater management ponds across the city. All properties generate runoff at various levels, which is typically managed with city infrastructure, Li said.

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As a citywide service, stormwater management protects the environment, water quality and community and has “no direct relationship” to water and wastewater sewer services, she added.

“It’s just not fair,” Doner said.

The hundredfold increase on their stormwater bills is a result of a new fee structure introduced by Richmond Hill this year, replacing a flat-fee system that was implemented in 2013.

The updated stormwater management charge, which took effect on April 1, is based on the land area and property type, according to the city.

Under the new structure, an agricultural land or farm is charged $3.20 per 1,000 square feet, which is roughly $140 per acre, and golf courses are charged $185 per acre. Commercial/industrial and multi-residential properties are charged about $915 per acre.

The Doner farm had been charged a flat fee as a residential property for nine years and now it’s been recategorized as commercial, residential and agricultural and charged accordingly at much higher new rates.

When the family was first asked to pay for the city’s stormwater service in 2013, Doner said he was upset but went along with it since it was only about $65 per property per year.

The flat fee slowly increased over the years to around $75 in 2021.

Doner said while he was not entirely happy to be charged around $150 for the 100-acre farm -- comprising two properties separated by a railway track -- he found it outrageous that the city hiked their bills by 100 times.

“Where did that rates come from? Why did they need it?” Doner asked, noting the city’s stormwater fund actually generated a surplus last year.

The treasurer responded that the new rate structure was put in place because the previous flat fee rate “did not provide enough funding to maintain and update stormwater facilities” and “was not truly representative of land use and the resulting creation of runoff.”

Property area and land use type are more representative of the creation of stormwater runoff, Li noted.

In comparison, the City of Markham charges a flat fee of $52 per residential property and $29 for non-residential per $100,000 of current value assessment.

The City of Vaughan uses a stormwater fee structure based on property type. Under its structure, agricultural or vacant land is charged a flat fee of $699.48 annually.

At the Sept. 14 council meeting, Coun. Tom Muench proposed a motion to exempt any property without city water or sewers from the upgraded stormwater charge.

Doner, who attended a portion of the chaotic meeting where a regional councillor was ejected and police officers were called, spoke in support of the proposal and found it disappointing that council eventually decided to refer it back to staff.

"This is a fairly complex issue that I think really needs to be looked at carefully to make sure we do it and we do it right, because the implications are as outlined in the memo quite significant," said Mayor David West, who was among the majority of council who voted to refer it.

Staff are expected to bring back a fulsome report after the fall election.

Doner’s bills were due on Sept. 20. If unpaid, the charges will be transferred to their property tax account, according to the city’s standard collection policy.

Council members seemed to have let their “personal issues” get in the way of actual decision-making, Doner said.

Far from bearing the brunt of the impact alone, Doner said that he learned many landowners in the area have been hit by similarly astronomical bills for the unprovided stormwater services.

“Our water does not drain onto any city infrastructure. In fact, the roads drain onto our property,” Doner said.

The farmer showed the Liberal around the farm, where two ponds are connected through a culvert while open ditch drains were seen around the edge of their property.

Pointing to an uneven patch of cornfield on a farm he rented, Doner said their crops were affected by stormwater coming from the city’s infrastructure across the road.

“They damage our corn and then turn around and bill us for it,” he said.