The fresh price of Belleair: Water fees a pain, a drain
Water bills, that is. Their arrival in Belleair Beach is either a more blessed event or a more dreaded one.
By JAN WESNER CHILDS
Published June 4, 2003
BELLEAIR BEACH - Outrage over new water rates drew a crowd Monday night at City Hall.
Roughly half of Belleair Beach's homeowners are taking a bigger hit in their bimonthly bills, which in March dropped a flat-rate system for a fee structure based on usage.
Perhaps nobody was more surprised than Jim Miller, who chose an unfortunate time to landscape his 22nd Street home.
The county allows homeowners with new plantings to run their sprinklers during the designated hours for 90 consecutive days.
From March 19 to May 19, Miller used 234,000 gallons - almost 10 times the typical usage for a family of four. Instead of the old flat rate of $57, Miller paid $709.
"I was shocked," said Miller, who said his water usage during the previous two billing periods was 27,000 and 43,000 gallons.
He blames himself, however, for the amount of water he used and suspects his irrigation system may be leaking.
Five or six neighbors is a typical audience for a City Council meeting. Monday night drew about 45, most of them objecting to the new water rates.
"Ludicrous," said Bob Stipanov, whose bill rose by $200.
The flat rates now range from about $9 to $71, but each homeowner also is charged $2.84 for every 1,000 gallons used. The first bills under the new system ranged from $20.62 to $709.
The change also affected Belleair Shore, which sends its wastewater through Belleair Beach. Residents there pay the new rate, plus a surcharge levied by Belleair Beach.
Bert Cutler, presiding officer of the Belleair Beach City Council, said the city was losing $3,600 a month because Pinellas County's charge to treat the city's wastewater exceeded the revenue from sewer bills.
Pinellas County increased the amount it charges municipalities for wastewater treatment in 2001, after 30 years of charging the same rate. Three other beach towns - Madeira Beach, Indian Rocks Beach and North Redington Beach - were affected. Those cities all raised their sewer rates in 2001, but none as drastically as Belleair Beach.
The problem, the neighbors said Monday night, is that the sewer rate is based on how much water a household uses - not how much is actually flushed down the toilet or washed down the drain into the sewer system.
But that's the way most municipalities measure water use, said Tim Wiley of Pinellas County Utilities. Water meters measure only how much water goes into a home, so there is no way to measure how much water each home discharges into the sewer system.
Resident Ray Cutro, whose water bill went up $130, said that's why the city should have stuck with a flat rate: "That's the only way to do that equitably."
Stipanov argued that he and his wife are paying more for sewer service than a four-person household down the street. Much of his water goes to maintaining his landscaped quarter-acre lot, he said.
More than 7-million gallons of wastewater from Belleair Beach goes through a series of pumping stations and eventually ends up at the county's South Cross water treatment plant each month, according to Wiley, who is director of customer service. The county charges Belleair Beach $2.88 for each thousand gallons it receives.
Wiley said the change in Belleair Beach resulted in lower sewer bills for about 40 percent of the 865 water customers.
Belleair Beach has some of the most expensive homes in Pinellas County. Along with them come swimming pools that need filling, large boats that need washing and expansive lawns that need watering.
Mayor Michael Kelly said he hopes residents will get some relief when reclaimed water becomes available in about two years.
Cutler said the city will review the fees after a couple of months. In the meantime, he said, everyone should try to conserve.
Sewer rates
Here's what some other beach cities charge residents for sewer service. The rates are for two-month billing periods.
Indian Rocks Beach
Flat rate of $38.12.
Madeira Beach
Flat rate of $17.68 per month up to 4,000 gallons; $2.88 per thousand gallons above 4,000.
North Redington Beach
Flat rate of $45.84.
Belleair Beach
Flat rate ranges from $8.89 per month to $71.12, depending on meter size, plus $2.84 per thousand gallons.
