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Newcomers to foot bill for sewer, water hikes

The County Commission's approval won't affect current residents and businesses.

By ASJYLYN LODER
Published October 26, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - Owners of new homes and businesses in Hernando County are going to be paying more for water and sewer hookups.

The fee increases were approved 4-1 by the County Commission on Tuesday.

The charges do not affect existing utility customers, said Kay Adams, the county's utilities director. The increases will help the county offset the costs of new growth, and shift that burden to the people contributing to the growth: those buying new homes and opening new businesses, Adams said.

As of Feb. 1, 2006, the water hookup fee will increase from $930 to $1,147, and the wastewater hookup fee will increase from $2,430 to $3,544. The fees were last increased in 2003.

Commission Chairman Robert Schenck, who cast the sole opposing vote, said, "In my opinion, it's very excessive to have Hernando County the highest in the bay area. I think it hurts taxpayers."

In other business, the commission:

Unanimously approved a plan to help share the costs of cleaning up the contaminated compound formerly used by the Department of Public Works. The county will pay the majority of the cost because county agencies used the refueling site on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. However, the city of Brooksville also used it, according to a county report.

The report said Brooksville used more than 400,000 of the estimated 2.4-million gallons of fuel pumped at the site, or nearly 17 percent, from 1990 through 1998. As a result, the county would like the city to pick up 17 percent of the projected cost of the cleanup. The county calculated Brooksville's share so far as $14,613; the city's projected share for 2006 is about $15,000.

Unanimously approved a change in the application for prospective Planning and Zoning Commission members and alternates. The applications will now include questions about the applicant's criminal background.

Unanimously approved a compromise with the city of Brooksville regarding the site of a parking lot planned adjacent to the county's new Emergency Operations Center. The city said it will not force the county to annex the site in exchange for city water and sewer connections. For its part, the county will not protest the annexation of a site north of the parking lot should that site become an enclave.

[Last modified October 26, 2005, 00:44:15]