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Rural residents are “furious” the city wants to tap them for fees to manage a stormwater network largely based in the urban area, one community leader says.

“All of a sudden they get dinged for something that is an inner city issue,” Klaus Beltzner said Wednesday.

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Beltzner, president of the Manotick Village and Community Association, said it’s unfair to make rural property owners pay into the annual $42-million stormwater program because they don’t get the same benefits as urban landowners. When he asked the city’s finance department last year how much it costs each year to maintain ditches and culverts, he received citywide figures that ranged between $1.5 million and $2.6 million over seven years.

It would be more equitable for rural property owners who don’t currently pay water and sewer rates to pay for the actual cost of providing stormwater services in their communities, Beltzner said.