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Council to consider plan to triple stormwater fee

The proposal is part of $60-million capital improvement plan for the city's stormwater system.

TAMPA - City Council members will hear a proposal today from the stormwater staff that includes tripling the city's stormwater fee.

The presentation will also outline a five-year, $60-million capital improvement plan for Tampa's stormwater system.

The intent is to ease flooding problems, which were highlighted by last year's wetter than usual rainy season.

But some City Council members say their constituents don't want to support a 300 percent fee increase that they don't think will benefit their neighborhoods.

Tampa residents pay a stormwater fee of about $12 a year. The exact bill for property owners varies based on the size of the house and the amount of paved surface.

Tampa's stormwater tax, now in its second year, is one of the lowest in the state. It will remain that way even if it increases to $36 a year, which Tampa's public works administrator Steve Daignault proposes.

Residents pay $24 a year in Lakeland, $48 in Miami, $72 in St. Petersburg, $75 in Tallahassee, $82.56 in Orlando and $103.80 in Clearwater.

The increase would help fund 34 of 95 essential stormwater projects over five years, Daignault said.

Those projects are scattered throughout the city, but the most costly projects are in South Tampa, including $20-million for South Dale Mabry Highway between Neptune Street and Henderson Boulevard.

"It's primarily a South Tampa issue," said Council member Shawn Harrison, who represents North Tampa. "New Tampa has no stormwater problems. Everyone who owns a house in New Tampa paid for their own stormwater systems. Everything up there drains into retention ponds and then it filters into wetlands. It doesn't go into the city system."

The Council will review the proposal today at 9 a.m. at 315 E Kennedy Blvd.