The monthly fee will rise to $6 from $4.50 per home and help cover stormwater projects.
By MEGAN SCOTT, Times Staff Writer
Published June 17, 2005
DUNEDIN - Last year, three commissioners voted not to increase stormwater utility fees for residents.
At least one of them has changed her mind.
On Thursday, commissioners tentatively agreed, 3-2, to raise the fees to $6 a month per household. The current fee is $4.50.
Dunedin plans to use the extra $1.50 over the next five years for major capital stormwater projects, said Doug Hutchens, director of public works. Those include projects at Curlew Creek, Dunedin Isles Estates and Hammock Park.
Some of those projects, he said, were put on hold when commissioners voted against the increase last year.
Commissioner Deborah Kynes, who voted against the increase last year, said Thursday there was an urgency to those projects.
"It's time for us to go forward," she said. "It's time for stormwater. It's going to have to take a real precedent."
Hutchens said the $1.50 will be used to pay a $3.1-million loan over the next 10 years. But he expects the city will spend the loan in five years.
The city will continue using the current $4.50 fee for maintenance and smaller projects.
Commissioners were in agreement Thursday about the importance of the stormwater projects. They disagreed, though, on how to fund them.
As they did last year, Commissioner Bob Hackworth and Vice Mayor Julie Scales voted against the increase.
Hackworth said there were other ways to pay for the projects, such as using Penny for Pinellas funds. He has suggested selling the tract of land the city bought to build a municipal services center. That project has been put on hold.
"I don't think it would be that difficult to take care of the stormwater within the existing budget," Hackworth said. "It would just take some prioritization. I'm sure I could find $450,000 that could be spent on stormwater."
But Commissioner Dave Eggers said he was unable to find an alternate source of funding.
"I think this particular area does take a long-term perspective," he said. "There are an awful lot of projects that have been identified by the experts that say we have a lot of work to do."
The city first implemented a $3 stormwater utility fee in 1989. It remained that amount until 2003, when commissioners approved increasing it to $4.50.
If the $1.50 increase is approved during a second reading on July 7, the fees will increase Oct. 1 when residents will see the increase on their utility bill.
