Dismissal of the Appeal against the Determination of Water and Wastewater Connection Fees

Facts

In 2012, A. AG received a building permit for a development in Rheinfelden. The building permit set provisional water and sewer connection fees, which A. AG paid. In 2016, the municipality of Rheinfelden determined the final connection fees and demanded additional fees from A. AG. A. AG filed an appeal against this fee determination, which was dismissed by the Administrative Court of the Canton of Aargau. A. AG appealed this judgment to the Federal Supreme Court.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the appeal. It finds that there is a sufficient legal basis for the fees charged. The principle of cost coverage, which the appellant invokes, has the rank of a constitutional principle, but does not constitute an independent constitutional right. Rather, it serves as a surrogate for a formal legal basis if the latter is not sufficiently specific. In the present case, however, the assessment of the fees is sufficiently regulated by law, so that the principle of cost coverage does not need to be examined additionally.

Nor can the appellant derive an individual right from the Federal Act on the Protection of Waters (GSchG) that the cantonal or municipal…