Taxing churches at issue in Richmond case

The Rev. Mat Brown worries that Richmond has lost sight of one of Virginia’s commandments: Thou shalt not tax churches.

He’s trying to make sense of the city’s new stormwater utility fee and questioning why churches should have to pay it, just as owners of homes and business properties do.

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“Churches are different. We are always treated differently,“ said Brown, pastor of Branch’s Baptist Church in South Richmond. “The precedent is that the government sees that what we do is a worthy thing.“

The city recently sent out its first stormwater assessments to the owners of more than 68,000 properties. Based on its two notices, Branch’s Baptist can expect a bill of $6,075 this fall. That’s more than the church spends annually on its ministry programs for children, young adults and seniors, and it’ll likely force leaders to dip into a meager reserve fund, Brown said.

City officials said they sympathize with churches and others who object to the fee, but they emphasize that they’re trying to correct drainage problems that have plagued the city for decades. Chesterfield and Henrico counties do not charge a similar fee.

The city’s fee is charged on developed properties based on the amount of space taken up by parking lots, rooftops and other hard or “impervious” surfaces that cause rain and melted snow to run off rather than to seep into the ground.

After years of debate, Mayor Dwight C. Jones recommended and the City Council approved the fee this spring to provide a dedicated source of funding for maintaining and improving stormwater management. Officials expect to collect $7.8 million this fiscal year, and a list of improvement projects is being developed. In the past, such projects had to compete with other city needs for funding.

Under the program, single-family homes are being charged a flat rate of $25, $45 or $70 depending on the amount of impervious space.

Other properties, including businesses, apartment buildings, churches and those owned by other nonprofit groups, are charged a fee that’s based on dividing the total impervious area by 1,425, which is the median square-footage value of impervious area for all single-family parcels.

The calculation determines the number of “equivalent residential units” for the property, which is then multiplied by the $45 rate. Bills are to be mailed beginning in September.

Based on its assessments, Branch’s Baptist has 192,396 square feet of impervious area, much of it in the asphalt parking lot that wraps around the church-building complex at Walmsley and Broad Rock boulevards.

Brown questions the city’s numbers, as well as its decision to charge a higher rate on a church-owned house because it’s in a parcel that includes some parking lot. He also wonders why the church must pay a fee on part of a parking lot that drains into woods that are owned by the church.

“It just seems very arbitrary,“ he said.

Branch’s Baptist looks like a big church, but that’s largely an indication of its past. The sanctuary was built in 1949. It regularly accommodated 1,600 people for Sunday services during the 1950s, Brown said. Now, a typical Sunday attracts about 250 worshippers.

The city determined the size of impervious areas on parcels by using assessment records and aerial photos, said Angela Fountain, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Utilities.

City officials had considered charging a reduced rate for churches and nonprofits, but attorneys concluded that state law doesn’t allow such discounts, Fountain said. She said the city may ask the General Assembly to approve legislation that would allow more property owners to receive credits for rain gardens or other features that reduce the impacts of runoff.

Brown said he intends to appeal the church’s assessments, and he’s contacting other religious leaders to lobby for exemptions for religious organizations and nonprofits.

“The large question is, should we be charged this at all?“ he said.

Will Jones writes for The Richmond Times-Dispatch