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Since June 1, the sound you hear when you flush t eh commode in many DeKalb County homes is not just the sound of water swooshing away. Instead it’s the sound of your hard-earned money going down the toilet, thanks to the latest idea by CEO Vernon Jones that was enacted by the DeKalb Board of Commissioners. A policy that went into effect this month requires that the owners of all DeKalb homes built before 1993 be retrofitted with low-flush toilets before resale – an added expense when trying to sell a home. Low-flush toilets are those that use 1.6 gallons or less per flush. DeKalb’s “toilet-tax” policy is one unique to anywhere in the state. After all, it may not even be a water saving measure as it can take tow flushes to make the bowl’s contents disappear. When you think about it, is it really government’s business to start policing the type of toilets residents have in their homes? It is probably unconstitutional for DeKalb to prohibit the close of a sale of a home without a certificate showing that the home has low-flow johns. Jones came up with this idea last year after the initial drought which prompted statewide water-saving measures. County officials picked 1993 as a cutoff date for older homes since most new construction homes include low-flow toilets. I opposed this policy form its inception, not only because it may actually cause citizens to use more water with double-flushing, but to replace toilets can cost as much as $1,000 each. The county did initiate $50 and $100 rebates on certain toilet models. But again, should government be in the business of telling us what kind of commode to have in our homes? Or be using tax dollars to pay for them? This is just one more example of expansive government getting into our every day lives. Water conservation is a commendable quality. But government cannot be in the business of changing behavior or lest it becomes an agent of social engineering, no different than the regimes of the Soviet Union or Communist China. As a free society we should be conscientious enough to turn off the water when we are brushing our teeth or not water the lawn in times of drought. But for the government to impose a toilet mandate that is nothing more than a “toilet-tax” is an unnecessary burden to KeKalb homeowners. Boyer, a Republican, represents District 1 on the DeKalb Board of Commissioners. |
