Northpinellas: Tarpon is fuzzy on rate increase

TARPON SPRINGS -- After a year of study, city officials are getting closer to raising water and sewer rates for the first time in more than six years.

It is necessary, they say, to keep up with inflation, keep bond holders happy and pay for needed water and sewer improvements.

Just don't ask how much they want to raise rates. Despite repeated requests, city officials and their water and sewer rate consultant said Tuesday and Wednesday that they have not come up with those numbers yet. Maybe, they said, that will be more clear in a couple of weeks.

"We haven't gotten anything definite yet," City Commissioner Beverley Billiris said. While she is eager to find out what the recommendation is, she is willing to wait for a set of accurate numbers instead of dealing with a vague range.

It has been an involved process, Billiris said, because city officials are trying to make the rates fair to individual users and to residents who live in condominiums, mobile home parks and other communities served by a "master meter."

"It has to be fair across the board to everyone," Billiris said.

Officials have scheduled a community meeting on the issue at 6:30 p.m. May 13 at City Hall, 324 E Pine St., at which they say more information should be available.

The additional revenue that would be generated by the anticipated rate increases is needed to pay for projects such as expanding reclaimed water service, providing sewer service around Lake Tarpon and in other areas and continuing odor-control efforts at the wastewater treatment plant, said public services administrator Paul Smith.

A five-year capital improvement plan for the water and sewer system distributed Tuesday night shows total annual expenditures ranging from $2.76-million to $3.8-million a year. The annual average through the year 2006 is $3.16-million.

The city must do 60 percent of those projects to comply with state and federal regulatory requirements. The rest are considered to be important for customer service or environmental protection.

Also, without a rate increase since 1995, water and sewer revenues have not kept pace with inflation, city officials say. Inflation has driven costs up 17.3 percent since 1995.

As a result of the added costs imposed by inflation and increased regulatory requirements, officials say the city must raise rates by Oct. 1 to bring in the amount of revenue that is required by its water and sewer bonds.

In making the case for rate increases during a City Commission meeting Tuesday night, city officials and consultant Michael Burton pointed out that rate increases would be lower or would not be necessary at all if proposed rate increases were implemented after a 1994 study.

Rates were raised in 1995, but not as much as recommended in the study. Rates also weren't raised after that, as was recommended in the 1994 study.

"We've fallen further and further behind," City Manager Ellen Posivach said.

Currently, residents who use up to 4,000 gallons of water a month are charged $12.64. They pay $3.16 for every additional 1,000 gallons up to 15,000 gallons. For every 1,000 gallons beyond 15,000, residents are charged $3.26.

Sewer rates are $11.24 per month, plus $2.81 per 1,000 gallons between 5,000 and 15,000 gallons and $2.91 per 1,000 gallons beyond that.

One possibility that is being discussed would be for the city to ask voters at a November referendum to approve a revenue bond that would pay for some capital projects, said Burton, president of Burton & Associates. If the bond issue passed, rates would still need to go up but not as much as they would without the bond issue, he said.

The city is trying to find other sources to pay for some of the projects that normally are paid for with income from the water and sewer fees. The city will receive $98,000 from the Southwest Florida Water Management District to help pay for extension of the reclaimed water line to Harbor Oaks and possibly to Oak Leaf Village. The city also is seeking a $1-million federal sewer grant.

Joseph LaRocca, the president of the Woods at Anderson Park Homeowners Association, said he understands the need for rate increases.

But he doesn't want the city to impose a service charge on each home within developments such as his, which are served by master meters. The only fair way is the current system, in which the master meter receives a single charge for service, he said.

A charge on each unit, he said, "would be imposing a greater fee on people who are less able to afford it."

-- Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or gazella@sptimes.com.

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