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Fee, Not Tax, Supports Public Fire Protection
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.1995.tb06310.x
Subject(s) - constitutionality , fire protection , law , cover (algebra) , state (computer science) , charge (physics) , business , engineering , political science , supreme court , civil engineering , computer science , mechanical engineering , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics
River Falls, Wisconsin, sought to uphold the constitutionality of a charge to a church to cover the cost of providing water for fire protection. Pursuant to a state law, the city elected to collect public fire protection charges as part of each utility customer's water bill. One method used to apportion the cost of water for fire protection was to prorate each customer's cost according to property value. St. Bridget's Catholic Church of River Falls refused to pay the charge, claiming the state law was unconstitutional. The trial court upheld the constitutionality of the law concluding that the charge was a fee, not a tax.