- March 5, 2025
Split 3-1, the Palm Coast City Council voted on March 4 to begin the process of fixing and expanding the city’s water and wastewater infrastructure — and begin to raise residents’ monthly bills.
To pay for $614 million of improvements in the next five years, residents will see four 8% increases in their monthly bills by October 2028 — and another 4% per year after that.
Holding out for an as-yet-undiscovered way to avoid putting so much of the cost on residents, Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri voted against the ordinance on first read (second read is March 18). She expressed her wish for alternatives in previous meetings, as well, but none were presented.
“I’m disappointed that this is an all-or-nothing approach,” she said.
The other three members of the City Council were convinced by staff and the consultant that there actually is no other alternative.
“We are under an FDEP consent order, so these are things we have to do,” Mayor Mike Norris said, referring to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. “They are no fault of anybody in this room. It’s just the circumstances.”
He blamed “some bad leadership and some bad management” in the city's past for the difficulties, “but we are in this situation as a community, and we have to do what’s right.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST PROJECT?
At $265 million, the most important and most costly project in the plan is the expansion of Wastewater Treatment Facility 1. It has been in continuous operation for more than 40 years, according to the presentation by Stormwater and Engineering Director Carl Cote.
The plant capacity expanded to 6.83 million gallons per day in 2006 and will expand to 10.83 million gallons per day with the proposed plan, mostly solving the city's problems through about 2035.
The plant will also be converted to advanced treatment techniques, meeting upcoming regulatory requirements.
COSTS TO RESIDENTS
Several residents pleaded with the City Council not to raise the rates so quickly. The utility bill, which includes trash collection, water and wastewater services, will go up from about $73 monthly now to about $99 monthly by October 2028 for a home that uses 2,500 gallons of water per month.
Some increases are inevitable, City Councilman Ty Miller said. Every year, the city needs about 4.1% more to pay for utilities, so an 8% increase is more like an increase of 3.9% above expected.
“It’s not quite the increase that it appears to be,” he said.
In response to a resident who accused past City Councils of avoiding infrastructure improvements out of fear that rate increases would make it difficult to be reelected, Miller said:
“My concern isn’t to get reelected. My concern is to get this done the right way.”
City Councilman Charles Gambaro said voting for the improvements despite the rate increases was required of leaders.
“We can’t afford to continue to admire this problem,” he said, “ … we have to attack it. … I’m prepared to move forward.”
Although the rates will go up substantially, they are still comparable to other cities’ rates around the state, including Flagler Beach’s rates, according to a presentation by consultant Murray Hamilton, vice president of Raftelis. For example, Flagler Beach residents pay about $100 to $125 per month for water and wastewater, when using 2,500 to 4,000 gallons of water per month.
IS GROWTH PAYING FOR ITSELF?
Knowing that 63% of the funds needed to pay for the infrastructure improvements are the result of growth, while 37% is due to maintenance, residents and City Council alike pondered this question: Is growth paying for itself, or are current residents paying for growth?
Due to state laws that cap impact fees, it’s not possible for local governments to charge enough money for growth to pay for itself, was Hamilton's analysis.
“You’re set up in a position not to be able to capture 100% of those costs,” Hamilton said. The state, he added, has “made aggressive adjustments, at the benefit of new development.”
Illustrating some of the paradox of a new, rapidly growing city, one resident said he opposed the rate increase, although he also said he had only recently moved to Palm Coast.
One resident asked the city to say no to all future development.
Norris responded: “I have no problem saying no, and we’re going to do it a lot.”
The city has increased its impact fees as much as the law will allow, Pontieri said.
CONSEQUENCES OF INACTION
Cote said that a failure to improve infrastructure would lead to some serious consequences for current residents:
Service disruptions: Overloaded systems can lead to boil water notices, sewer backups, and water restriction;
Higher costs: Emergency repairs, chemicals, labor, and regulatory fines increase financial burdens;
Economic and environmental consequences: Insufficient capacity can harm ecosystems.
During the public comment portion of the March 4 meeting, homebuilder Tony Amaral acknowledged that the City Council is in “a bad spot.” Previous City Councils voted against rate increases. This one can’t.
“We’re at a point now where no is not the answer,” he said. “No is essentially a death sentence to the city.”
