As reported in the Baltimore Sun, Harford County Executive David Craig issued a lengthy statement critiquing the fee which has been dubbed a “rain tax” in national news.

County Executive Craig recently signed the county’s new stormwater implementation fee into law, though the bill he signed reduced the stormwater fees to 10% of what he originally proposed for residences and businesses, at least for the first year of the fees.  The amended bill also provides for 100% exemption for properties with certain stormwater reduction systems already in place, and for a task force to study the issue and make recommendations to the County Council and Executive. As reported in the Sun.

Craig signed off on legislation passed last month that is significantly different than what he himself had proposed two months earlier. The net effect is Harford went from potentially having one of the highest residential stormwater remediation fees in the state to one of the lowest, or at least for the next year.

In a statement released today, the County Executive, who spoke out against the stormwater fee in Annapolis last year, said he concurs with the county council’s reduction of the proposed fee and creation of the task force, according to the Sun.

“I commend and thank the County Council for working with my administration on this difficult issue, and I fully support their task force to further study this heavy-handed state mandate,” the county executive’s statement Friday said.

For more information, see the full story from the Sun, Harford County’s Stormwater Fee Bill 4.25.13, and our previous posts on Conduit Street.