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Utility proposes to spare some from fee

Residents who requested and paid for water-line extensions from Dec. 1, 2003, to June 24 wouldn't have to pay extra.

By Times Staff
Published July 11, 2005

PINE RIDGE - The Florida Governmental Utility Authority has good news for some Pine Ridge and Citrus Springs property owners.

The utility had planned to charge many Citrus Springs and Pine Ridge residents between $2,000 and $6,500 for water-line extensions - even though they're already hooked up.

This weekend, the utility announced that any resident who has requested and paid for service between Dec. 1, 2003, and June 24 would be exempt from the assessment.

"This policy will still meet the threshold of ensuring growth pays for itself, but we hope it will be more acceptable to the community and better meet their needs," said Charles Sweat, the utility's operations manager, in prepared remarks.

The utility's staffers plan to present the revised proposal to the County Commission during the commission's meeting Tuesday.

The utility is an independent government entity and has its own board of directors. One director is County Administrator Richard Wesch.

In 2003, the utility acquired the Citrus Springs and Pine Ridge water systems and pledged that water rates would remain stable for five years.

But during a public meeting last week in Citrus Springs, utility officials said they needed to pay for future pipeline needs in the area and recoup some money for past projects.

To make the $13-million or so needed, the utility proposed charging Citrus Springs property owners a $2,082 fee per lot and Pine Ridge owners $6,571. Pine Ridge lots are much larger than Citrus Springs lots. The fees could be paid all at once or with interest over several years.

The proposal affects more than 4,000 property owners of mostly vacant lots. But it also would have required people who became water customers since Dec. 1, 2003, to pay the assessment.

That upset many residents and government officials.

"I think it's wrong, very wrong to charge people now when they're saying they're doing this based on new growth," County Commission Chairwoman Vicki Phillips said last week. "And they're going to make new growth pay for itself? Those people who are here Dec. 1, 2003, are not newcomers."

During the utility's public meeting, Wesch directed the staff "to find a better way to manage those customers who acquired service between Dec. 1, 2003, and the present," an utility news release said.

Based on comments from residents and that direction from Wesch, the release said, staffers examined legal and financial issues and "determined that it is possible to modify the policy proposal while still meeting legal obligations and deadlines."

County commissioners appointed Wesch to serve on the utility's board. Last week, Phillips said Wesch did not inform commissioners of the utility's proposed fee plan and voted June 17 to bring it forward.

Phillips said she might want to place a commissioner on the board instead of Wesch.

[Last modified July 11, 2005, 01:00:09]