Former councilman files suit against City of Anniston

Ben Little

Former Anniston city councilman Ben Little has filed suit against the city of Anniston seeking  to repeal the cities recently imposed stormwater drainage fee on property owners.

Little filed the lawsuit along with Anniston resident Ralph Bradford in Calhoun County Circuit Court. The lawsuit alleges the city's fee, approved last year, is illegal and cannot be levied on acts of God.

City officials say, though, that state law makes the fee legal and that it is necessary to pay for needed drainage repairs.

Little filed the lawsuit in response to the fees levied on his church, Refuge Full Gospel on East 22nd Street, and some of its properties. Bradford owns the Martin Luther King Child Development Center on Hanna Avenue in south Anniston.

The lawsuit makes several allegations, including that the fee is unlawful because it must be paid on top of property taxes, that the city used no licensed surveyor to measure the properties in question and that the city provided no proper way for residents to appeal. It also alleges that the city cannot levy fees on acts of God, including rainfall.

The Anniston City Council approved the annual fee in July. The fee is allowable through a state law, passed in April, which among other things permits cities to recover some of the costs associated with federal stormwater runoff regulations. The law applies only if any man-made structure exists on the property, such as a building or a parking lot, and it specifically exempts only utilities and agriculture from the fee.

The city, which expects to generate $400,000 from the fee this year, allocated the money specifically for stormwater drainage improvement.

Little said he also did not like the fee because it is being levied against churches.