The University of Wyoming is suing the city of Laramie, aiming to stop a new fee that's meant to help mitigate flooding.
UW argues the fee represents an unlawful tax. The lawsuit also alleges the city government lacks the authority to impose such a tax and that the state statute allowing the city's fee was crafted in an "unconstitutional" way by state lawmakers.
A UW news release states the university is "acting to protect itself and the citizens of Laramie from an unlawful tax."
"UW firmly believes that if the city wanted to impose additional taxes on city residents and entities like UW, the ordinance and the proposed tax needed to be put in front of the citizens of the city in an election, as required by state law," UW Board of Trustees Chairman Kermit Brown said in the release. "No election was held prior to the City Council passing the ordinance and attempting to impose this tax. The ordinance is void and unenforceable against UW and other city residents."
The city has yet to respond.
How we got here
The stormwater fee was first collected this summer. But it caused an uproar, especially among a minority of local residents who found themselves paying high bills.
The city has paused collecting the fee while it reworks the formula. But under the original rate, UW would have to pay more than $400,000 a year.
The fee was calculated at a uniform rate across all parcels in the city, whether residential, commercial or governmental, with a formula based on a parcel's impervious area.
Impervious areas include hard surfaces like roofing, asphalt or concrete where rain cannot be absorbed into the ground and becomes runoff. The city government used aerial imagery and LiDAR to determine every city parcel's amount of impervious area. An interactive online map allows residents to see which parts of their home or business were designated impervious.
Each parcel was broken down into "billing units" of 500 square feet and charged $1.67 per billing unit per month.
Most residents were set to pay $10 or less a month and most businesses were set to pay $25 or less.
But as property square footage scaled, so did the fee. The university, which owns nearly one third of all land within city limits, was Laramie's largest outlier. UW was charged $35,000 for the first month, and calculated it would be charged $420,000 over the course of a year.
In August, UW authorized its lawyers to sue the city. The lawsuit was filed Sept. 24 in Albany County District Court.
UW's legal arguments
UW alleges that Title 16 of the Wyoming State Statutes requires the city to put any new surface water tax before the voters before they can start collecting it.
The city, in its own meetings, has pointed to Title 15 instead, which grants cities the ability to manage stormwater and impose fees.
UW's lawsuit argues the city must follow the provisions of Title 16 in addition to the provisions of Title 15.
"The [stormwater fee] is illegal and void because the City failed to follow the clear and unmistakable requirement of Wyoming Statutes that if a City is to impose a tax, fee, or charge to manage surface water, the residents who will be burdened by those additional taxes, fees, or charges must approve those taxes, fees, or charges in a duly noticed public election," according to the lawsuit.
UW further argues that the Title 15 provision, which was added in 2020, should be declared unconstitutional.
The complaint alleges that the 2020 legislation amending Title 15 was "radically changed" during the legislative process in a way that lacked transparency.
UW argues the final shape of that bill bore too little resemblance to the version that was originally introduced, a potential violation of the rules governing how much a bill can be altered as it moves through the state legislature.
The Laramie City Council has paused collection of the stormwater fee until December. City staff are drafting changes that could put a cap on the monthly fees.
A city report estimates Laramie would need $130 million of investment to completely fix its stormwater infrastructure, with about $30 million of that going to high priority needs. The fee set out to raise about $60 million across the next decade.
This is not the first time UW and the city of Laramie have fought over water. In 2021, they wrestled over control of UW's water system and specifically over the watering of Jacoby Golf Course.
For differing reasons, both entities wanted to be the one with that responsibility. The dispute was resolved, in UW's favor, by an act of the Legislature.
