Mount Airy ponders free-water rules

Service to churches to continue until final guidelines vote

The resolution aims "to establish criteria for granting such requests in the future to ensure equal treatment," while acknowledging the town's historic exemptions, which include the volunteer fire company.

Owners of an exempt property - operated by a "non-profit entity" - must: provide a public service at the site; not exceed an average water use of 20,000 gallons per quarter; agree to use water conservation items provided by the town; and cooperate in conservation planning. The exemption also cannot result in rate increases, or negatively affect other water and sewer users - a concern that Nelson and Woodhull have expressed.

While no one is certain what prompted the practice or when it began, it could have started when the town's public water system was installed in the mid-1920s, Mayor Frank Johnson said. Town officials have also found a reference to water exemptions for an Episcopal church in town records from 1952. Although several of Carroll County's municipalities exempt their fire companies from water charges, none has a similar policy for churches.

"This is something to do with the unique history of Mount Airy," Johnson said.

Johnson described the dollar amount in question as "relatively small." It was recently as low as about $48 in one quarter for the lowest user and about $375 for the highest, according to Marsha Zimmerman, the town's water and sewer administrative assistant.

The town's lawyers and legal scholars say that the policy does not violate the Constitution.

The Supreme Court has held that tax exemptions for religious organizations, while not mandatory, are constitutional, said Mark Graber, a professor of law and government for the University of Maryland School of Law.

The most common exemptions are property and sales taxes, said Howard Friedman, professor of law emeritus at the University of Toledo College of Law, who said he has not come across a policy like Mount Airy's.

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