- October 12, 2024
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The Palm Coast City Council will wait to vote on whether to increase the city's stormwater rates, the council decided at a May 2 meeting.
Although city staff members have reduced the maximum proposed increases from $23 over a five-year period to $17 over a five-year period, City Council members want to consider adding a requirement that the City Council review and approve rate increases every year, while the current proposal is for a five-year plan.
The proposed stormwater rate increase has been before the City Council at two previous workshop meetings — one in February and one on April 11. The City Council directed Director of Stormwater and Engineering Carl Cote and his staff to rework the proposed rate hikes each time.
They did. Each version of the proposal broke the rates down into tiered options with increases over a five-year period. The first tier covers only basic maintenance needs, while the fifth includes all of the staffing and equipment additions that city staff members recommend.
The proposal presented at the May 2 meeting eliminated tier five and capped the most costly optional increase to $16.83 over a five-year period. The least costly increase, covering just maintenance and operational costs, would be $9.93 over five years, if approved.
Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri said she would also like to explore the option of capping any further rate increases, barring emergencies, after these increases are finished, so that residents are not subjected to another large rate hike immediately after this five-year period.
"In my mind," she said, "this is this is a lot of money for stormwater.”
Council member Nick Klufas said a cap could make it harder for future City Councils to address unforeseen problems.
The council will discuss the potential rate hiks again at the workshop at 9 a.m. May 9.
