HOLMES BEACH – Opposition to increases in stormwater fees and millage were top of mind for more than 50 city residents who made their feelings known to Commissioner Dan Diggins at a July 15 town hall meeting at the Island Branch Library.
“I want to hear what you folks think,” Diggins said at the beginning of the meeting. “Last year was a tough year with the hurricanes. We’re going to set the maximum millage rate next Tuesday. I don’t know what that’s going to be. I wanted the millage rate to be set to about 1.9 and I fought really hard. All the other commissioners and mayor said no we’re going to do two, and we settled at 1.99.”
The Tuesday commission meeting has been rescheduled to Friday, July 25 at 9 a.m.
“I want to hear what you have to say about the budget, and you also heard about the stormwater assessment fees. It was proposed to us by the city engineer to raise the storm assessment fees,” Diggins said. “We were going to do that a few years ago and then the American Rescue Act came in and we received $2 million from the feds for stormwater so we didn’t have to raise the fees. That’s all gone now, and that’s why we’re talking about raising the fees.”
Diggins noted commissioners are considering raising the stormwater fee from $2.95 per hundred square feet of property to $4.95 or $9.
“I think nine from two for the stormwater fees, plus raising the millage rate is going to hurt a lot of us,” Laurel Nevans said. “We have seen a great exodus of people who sold out after the floods. Anna Maria is cutting taxes while we’re raising ours. I think if we want to maintain residents, we can’t raise everything to the max.”
Nevans said many people are struggling financially following the 2024 hurricanes.
“I think the commission really needs to think about the impact. If we raise millage and stormwater rates, those annual rentals are going to go up because landlords won’t absorb that,” she said. “So many people are hurting financially right now that this could be the last nail in the coffin for the community.”
One resident asked Diggins what the stormwater money is being used for.
“What is the plan to be done differently to solve the water issue – digging more holes that cave in?” she asked.
Diggins said federal grants have dried up and the money is now being used for infrastructure improvement and vehicle maintenance.
“Right now, we’re using half the money for maintenance and the other half of the money to try to get some type of matching grant,” he said. “We ended up replacing storm drains, pipes and whenever we put a shovel in the ground, we find things we didn’t know about. We find things that are crumbling. We used the money for constant repairs.”
Diggins said that people who live on a barrier island do have to accept a certain amount of water.
“We talked about tearing up this parking lot here (at the library) and building a storage facility for the water underneath the parking lot. Then we’d have to pump it back out to the bay. That would cost millions and millions of dollars,” Diggins said.
“We’re just paying more for nothing when you guys are collecting more taxes,” the resident said.
“We have 4 miles of infiltration trenches, 10.7 miles of storm pipe under the streets, 2.5 miles of ditches and swales, 125 storm pipe outfalls and 25 tide valves in the canals,” Diggins said. “Even if we don’t increase it, that’s where that money goes.”
“When I moved here in 2010, we probably had 5,000 residents in Holmes Beach, now we have less than 2,000,” Renee Ferguson said. “What I’m concerned about is that the burden is on us. We’re going to take the hit with this $9 fee and we all know it’s up to the rest of us that are left to take on responsibility for the problem we have with flooding.”
She questioned the success rate of the companies the city is using for stormwater solutions.
“We don’t know what their success rate is and we don’t know what other coastal cities they’ve done,’’ Ferguson said. “I have no problem knowing my fees have to be raised if I knew that the quality of work and the companies that we’re choosing are actually going to do the work that we’re hiring them to do.”
“Can you tell me then, if you’re going to raise the millage and these fees, what you’re really going to do with this money and why we need it?” Ferguson asked. “This is not the time to hit us. Can we just hold back and see what happens when we reassess these mega mansions that are going up and maybe then come to us and say, we still have to talk to you?”
Nancy Deal said that the city of St. Petersburg has put in pump stations and asked why Holmes Beach can’t do the same. That city received an $8 million matching grant from the state, she said.
“There’s money out there,” Deal said. “There are things our city could have been doing.”
“We’re studying that now,” Diggins said.
Some residents questioned the absence of Holmes Beach commissioners at the town hall meeting.
City Attorney Erica Augello sent an email to commissioners that explains their absence. In part, it reads, “Just a friendly reminder that as these topics are not just likely to come before the commission, but are definitely coming before the commission, be cautious of any sunshine violations. While it is not a sunshine violation to attend such an event, it is a sunshine violation to participate in such an event if another commissioner is present and participating. As soon as a second commissioner makes a comment a violation exists as the meeting is not a public meeting that has been properly noticed and minutes taken.”
Related coverage:
Holmes Beach considering millage increase
Significant stormwater fee increase proposed
