Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utilities Billing Home Business topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council debate continues over charging home businesses for water, sewer; chief outlines identification process
Summary
Councilors and staff discussed a recently adopted definition for "commercial-residential mixed structures," the mailing of affidavits, and enforcement steps; Fire Chief Ken Stowell described how the city is identifying and registering potential home businesses and the limits of code enforcement.
Residents and city officials returned Tuesday to a dispute over additional water and sewer charges for home-based businesses after the council in November revised municipal language to treat some properties as commercial-residential mixed structures.
Arlene, a resident who addressed the council during public comment, criticized how the city applied the amended code and the affidavit process. “Why is day care providers in Target? But you are you but you would have regulate you you put regulates in the new amended chapter 2 50. That would be all home business,” Arlene said, arguing that enforcement appeared inconsistent.
The nut graf: the city adopted a new billing definition to capture certain home-occupied businesses and has been mailing affidavits to owners; councilors and staff debated whether water and sewer billing is the best enforcement mechanism and whether a separate permitting approach would be fairer and more enforceable.
Fire Chief Ken Stowell — who presented the council an update on enforcement and identification efforts that staff have carried out since late 2024 — said the city established a definition that treats each commercial or office unit in a mixed structure as a separate unit for billing and uses a mixed-rate formula. He explained the November 12, 2024 resolution introduced the definition and a fee calculation intended to split the user fee between residential flat rate and minimum metered billing for the meter size.
Stowell described the follow-up steps: certified and regular-mail letters and affidavits sent on Jan. 7, 2025 gave property owners until Jan. 31 to confirm or deny classification. He reported, “As a result of these letters, 7 confirmed, 20 denied, and 6 did not respond. Through this process, 10 properties were assessed the increase rates.”
Stowell told the council the city used county business filings and online searches to identify additional possible home businesses and had located eight more possible home-occupied properties plus four stand-alone businesses operating without permits. He said management is developing a business registry to post on the city’s website to streamline compliance and help potential businesses understand requirements.
Some councilors urged the city to consider a permitting process separate from water and sewer billing to make enforcement clearer and more equitable, noting residents object to being charged on an assumed water-usage basis. One councilor argued for exploring examples from other cities and possible permit-based fines and inspections.
Stowell stressed that code enforcement is primarily civil and depends on voluntary compliance: “Code enforcement is not police enforce enforcement. There is no judge or jury. Codes are always civil in nature,” he said, adding that enforcement in private dwellings is legally limited.
Ending: staff committed to provide council a written copy of the timeline and materials Stowell presented. Management said it is evaluating the registry software and will return with cost and implementation options for council consideration.
