About 150 southern Leavenworth County property owners are suing the Leavenworth county commission in federal court about a sewer tax they say has been improperly collected.

The tax, the plaintiffs said in a complaint filed last week at U.S. District Court in Kansas City, “has no rational basis in law, (and) constitutes an improper taking of (the) plaintiffs’ property.”

David Van Parys, Leavenworth County counselor, had no comment Monday.

“We just got this on Friday,” he said.

The tax is being collected in five sewer districts around the town of Basehor. Landowners in four of the districts must pay $480 a year per property for the sewer tax; property owners in one of the districts pay only $90 a year.

Roughly 300 properties are affected by the tax, Leavenworth County wastewater superintendent Mike Goetz said Monday.

The problem, the plaintiffs say in their suit, is that state law mandates that sewer taxes can only be levied after the system is built. And a sewer system has not been built in these districts.

Goetz said officials hope to start construction next year on a system that would connect most of the districts to a wastewater treatment plant in Basehor.

“We’re in the midst of doing a design study right now,” he said.

The property owners are suing under a federal civil rights statute that prohibits any unit of government from denying rights to any citizen; the plaintiffs say the levy violates their due process rights against the taking of their property. They’re asking for damages in excess of $75,000.

No hearing had been scheduled in the case as of Monday.