'Rain tax' foe won't pay $9,000 bill Enumclaw auction barn owner says higher surface water fee is unfair, illegal tax

Rob Tucker;

One of the leading opponents of the King County "rain tax" has announced he won't pay his $9,000-plus bill.

Ronald Mariotti, auctioneer and owner of the Enumclaw Sales Pavilion, said in an April 13 letter to "county and state officials" that he will not pay his county surface water management fee of $9,135.02. The fee is used to fight pollution and erosion caused by water runoff.

The King County Department of Natural Resources received Mariotti's letter Tuesday.

Mariotti has been one of the leading critics of King County DNR's extension of the annual surface water management fee this year to areas in eastern King County and Vashon Island.

"I'll pay my property taxes," he said.

But, he said, the annual property taxes on his three properties are $4,500 - half of the surface water management fee he's being charged.

"Something's really wrong here," he said.

Mariotti, a lifelong resident of the Enumclaw area, said the fee is an unfair, illegal tax he cannot afford. The new assessment is so large that he could be forced into bankruptcy, he said. His livestock sales business is at 22712 S.E. 436th St. (Washington 164), west of Enumclaw.

If Mariotti doesn't pay his full tax and fee bill, King County's Treasury Division will return his partial payment. The county is not allowed to take a partial payment in this case, officials said. The taxpayer must pay the stated due amount, said Phil Sanders, property tax supervisor for the Treasury Division.

If Mariotti persists in refusing to pay and three years pass, the county could file a property foreclosure action against him in court, Sanders said.

But King County prefers to work with Mariotti now, said Carolyn Duncan, spokeswoman for the county DNR. The department uses the surface water management fee to build runoff detention ponds and for other stormwater-control projects. DNR also provides grant money and technical assistance on clean water and fish preservation laws to farmers who want to clean their drainage ditches, she said.

DNR is trying to develop ways to reduce the fees for landowners who voluntarily implement surface water management programs on their lands, she said.

Mariotti and other critics have raised such strong objections to the fee that the King County Council has taken another look at extending the tax to the Vashon Island and eastern King County areas. The council may even repeal the tax extension, but not before April 30, when the fee and other taxes are due.

The council decided April 3 to take 60 days to review the situation in the council's Regional Water Quality Committee.

Property owners are charged surface water management fees based on the percentage of pavement or buildings on their property that cannot absorb stormwater runoff.

Homeowners are charged a flat fee of $85.02 annually. Most commercial property owners are being charged more. For instance, Mariotti said he owns the Enumclaw Pavilion and a nearby convenience store as well as his home. He pays the fee on all three - the flat fee on his home, more for his commercial properties.

King County Councilman Kent Pullen (R-Kent) said Mariotti's taken "a very courageous, justified action. I hope the community will support him."

He said if Mariotti gains taxpayer support, it could put more pressure on the County Council to repeal the tax.

But County Councilwoman Louise Miller (R-Woodinville) said a large part of King County has been paying the fee since 1987.

The County Council extended the fee and the commitment to build local projects to the Vashon and Enumclaw unincorporated areas in 1997, she said.

The extension was part of a regionwide move in concert with citizens and city governments in the county, she said. As part of the same movement, most cities that didn't have them agreed to implement drainage-control programs, she said.

"It's only fair that everybody provide their fair share of costs," she said.

She said 33 of 39 cities have drainage programs. Enumclaw and Black Diamond are two of the cities that haven't, she said.

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-- Mark Stilson (mark842@hotmail.com), April 26, 2000