Protecting Stormwater Utilities From Lawsuits

摘要

The creation of new stormwater utilities in Michigan came to a halt in 1998 when the MichiganSupreme Court ruled in the case of Bolt v. Lansing (also known as the Bolt Opinion) that theLansing, Michigan stormwater utility did not meet the three-part test for establishing a valid userfee. In 2011 Jackson became the first community in Michigan to implement a new stormwaterutility since the Bolt Opinion. Jackson’s stormwater utility was designed to comply with thethree-part test guidance given in the Bolt Opinion.This paper summarizes the steps that the City followed to comply with the Court’s user feerequirements.