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No stormwater fee relief for residents

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – There won’t be reduced stormwater fees on any Holmes Beach property owner’s trim notice in the fall.

Commissioners voted in December to raise the city’s stormwater fee to $2.95 per 100 square feet of lot space from the $1.50 per 100 square feet that property owners paid in 2019. After receiving some feedback from residents and owners with larger properties, including the Key Royale Club’s golf course management, commissioners committed to discussing whether or not to allow exceptions to the higher stormwater fees for certain property owners, such as churches, the golf course on Key Royale and low-income residents. That conversation ended during a Feb. 11 work session when commissioners decided that no exceptions to the stormwater fee will be given.

City Engineer Lynn Burnett presented commissioners with options, including giving low-income property owners and the golf club a break on the increased fee, decreasing it down to the current $1.50 fee. The issue, she said, is that by reducing the fee for some, it would mean the burden would have to be carried by other property owners and it would take longer to fund the repairs and replacements needed on the city’s failing infrastructure. Burnett said that even properties with their own stormwater infiltration systems and retention ponds are still a part of the problem creating flooding situations on the Island.

“Every inch of property on this Island, except Grassy Point, contributes to the problem,” she said. With higher than normal tides and heavier rainfall events, Burnett said the overdevelopment of the Island is creating too much strain on a failing system that’s outlived its useful years.

Commissioner Jim Kihm said that with a huge bill in front of city leaders for repairs and replacement, he felt the $2.95 stormwater rate already voted on should stand.

“We’re all in this together,” he said. “We’re all part of the problem. My feeling is that we all need to be part of the solution.”

While Kihm said he doesn’t like raising fees or taxes, funding has to be secured to fix the infrastructure problems.

“It costs something to live here,” he said.

Commissioner Terry Schaefer said he wasn’t in favor of lowering the $2.95 rate.

“I’m paying my fair share,” he said. “It’s worth the investment for the city to protect the future of what could become an inundated island.”

“You don’t want to walk out of your house into a pond,” Schaefer added.

Commissioner Carol Soustek said that if commissioners agreed to go with the stormwater fee already voted on, she didn’t think there could be exceptions.

“Everybody gets the tax, everyone pays the same,” she said.

If the city is successful with the Bert Harris Act cases facing it, Soustek said she hoped the funds put in reserve for that can be used to help fund infrastructure improvements and lower the burden on property owners.

“It’s a burden on everybody, we all have to pay the price,” Kihm said.

Though there are no exceptions to the fee, property owners still have the option to appeal the fee. Appeals have to be submitted to the city clerk’s office in writing. Appeal forms are available at Holmes Beach City Hall.

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City leaders consider stormwater fee increases

City leaders consider stormwater fee increases

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Featured, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – With costs for stormwater improvements throughout the city ongoing and increasing, City Engineer Lynn Burnett proposed to commissioners that they consider an increase in stormwater utility fees.

Stormwater utility fees are paid by property owners based on the size of their property. Currently, a fee of $1.68 is charged per 100 square feet of property.

Burnett said city leaders had planned a gradual increase over several years of 25% per year. She said that option is still on the table with fees increasing from $1.68 to $2.10 per 100 square feet of property in 2020.

A second option is to raise rates in 2020 to the planned five-year amount of $4.10 per 100 square feet. The third option is to increase to the final planned amount of $4.40 per 100 square feet of property in 2020 and then hold the rate at that amount for as long as possible.

The third option would represent a nearly 262% increase in stormwater utility fees for property owners, but Burnett said that either the second or third option would help the city close the gap between the cost of resiliency and stormwater improvements and the funding currently planned to be received for those projects.

At the planned 25% increase to $2.10, she said the city would be carrying a deficit over the next several years until fees increased to the point where all of the costs would be covered. If city leaders opt for the third option, an increase to $4.40, she said the deficit would end in the coming fiscal year.

If city leaders agree to an increase, the funds would not be collected until the beginning of 2021. Burnett said stormwater fees are collected in arrears so a change taking effect for the new fiscal year wouldn’t appear on property owners’ trim notices until fall 2020 and would not be due until property taxes are paid in late 2020 and distributed to municipalities in early 2021.

With new stormwater infiltration trenches needed, outflow pipes underneath city streets failing and seawalls buckling that are beyond their serviceable years, Burnett said the city needs protection to lessen flooding from storms, rising sea levels and high tide events such as king tides.

She said the city has numerous projects that need completing now, not down the road when future funds become available. Once commissioners agree on a number for the stormwater utility fee increase, she said she could come back with a vulnerability assessment and a plan of attack to begin construction on the highest priority areas.

Commissioner Jim Kihm said he would like to see more information from Burnett with details of what projects need to be completed when before he commits to a fee increase. He said he also wants to determine what effect an increase will have on Holmes Beach property owners before making a decision.

Commissioner Rick Hurst added that he wants to see what the total expenses are that the city is looking at before funds are committed to the projects.

“I just can’t slam the residents with that kind of increase,” Commissioner Carol Soustek said, of taking the maximum increase to $4.40. “I just can’t do it.”

Mayor Judy Titsworth said the fees charged to property owners are based on a need, and she wants to see what need Burnett is planning for. If there is a shortfall, she said she doesn’t see the city going into debt and then having to charge property owners for the finance fees incurred on a loan. She said she’d like to see what projects can be covered by the $4.10 fee and which additional projects could be covered by the increase to a $4.40 fee. Commissioner Kim Rash agreed, saying that he wants to see an expense versus fee amount comparison report.

Burnett agreed to come back before commissioners at a planned Oct. 22 meeting with further details.

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