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B-320795 1 (2010-09-29)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadskm0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GA 0 Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 B-320795 September 29, 2010 Peter J. Nickles, Esq. Attorney General of the District of Columbia 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Suite 409 Washington, DC 20004 Subject: Use of GA O's Appropriations to Pay the District of Columbia Storm water Fee Dear Mr. Nickles: The purpose of this letter is to inform you that we have evaluated the District of Columbia's (District) stormwater fee and, based on the facts and other information provided to us by the District, have determined that the stormwater fee is a tax for which Congress has not waived its sovereign immunity. Accordingly, GAO is constitutionally prohibited from using appropriated funds to pay the stormwater fee assessment due on October 1, 2010. U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2 (Supremacy Clause). The reasons for our conclusion are set forth in detail in the Enclosure. In April 2009, the District Water and Sewer Authority (presently known as D.C. Water) transmitted to the Director of the federal government's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) D.C. Water's fiscal year 2011 billing for federal customers for water and sewer services. Letter from Chief Financial Officer, D.C. Water, to Director, OMB, Apr. 15, 2009 (D.C. Water FY 2011 Bill). The D.C. Water FY 2011 Bill includes a stormwater fee that is assessed on each property located in the District, and D.C. Water is required by District law to collect and credit the fee to a fund administered by the District Department of the Environment (DDOE). This stormwater fee is a flat rate based on the amount of impervious surface on each property.1 'The D.C. Water FY 2011 bill also included an impervious surface charge for sewer service. In a separate letter to D.C. Water today, B-319556, we concluded that GAO's appropriations are available to pay D.C. Water's impervious surface area charge. The purpose of that charge is to cover the costs of capital improvements to D.C. Water's sewer system and treatment facilities, costs that are properly recoverable through a rate for utility services, and the charge represents a fair approximation of services provided to GAO.

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