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Tampa Water Rates To Double
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Published: August 9, 2007
TAMPA - In October, Tampa water customers will pay more for service.
Tampa City Council today voted 6-0 to double residents' water bills by 2012. Mayor Pam Iorio pushed the measure, her second water rate increase since taking office in 2003. The council also voted 6-0 to lower reclaimed water rates in an attempt to encourage more people to sign up. Councilman Tom Scott was absent.
"It's a lot more than a rate increase," Councilman Charlie Miranda said. "It's about pipes breaking and bridges falling down. These things have to be addressed."
The additional revenue generated by the drinking water rate increase will help pay for pipe replacement, operations and maintenance, expanding the reclaimed water system and allowing more freshwater to flow into the lower Hillsborough River.
The average monthly residential customer uses about 7,500 gallons of water a month, at a cost of about $11.55. With the rate increase, that bill will increase to $12.82 in 2008. Further increases will bring that bill to $22.61 in 2012.
The average monthly commercial bill is $208.96. Those bills will increase to $409.06 by 2012.
Iorio said a five-year plan makes sense, so the water department can plan infrastructure improvements.
"We haven't made the progress we've ought to have made," Iorio said.
Tampa does have low rates compared with other governments in the region, including Temple Terrace, St. Petersburg and Hillsborough County. Even with the rate increase, Tampa customers in 2012 would still pay less than customers in many other regions pay today.
The increases are in addition to a fee the city is tacking onto water bills for water it has bought from Tampa Bay Water to get Tampa through the dry season.
Electricity, fuel and chemical costs are increasing. The city also needs to restart its meter replacement program and replace meters every seven years.
That recommendation was included in a consultant's study last year. The city typically replaces meters every 10 years, but the consultants suggested replacing them every seven years.
Meters tend to start losing their accuracy after seven years, generally under-registering water use rather than over-registering.
Money also would go to replacing pipes. About 15 percent of the city's water pipes are at least 60 years old. Money used to fix pipes should keep the city from losing roughly 4 billion gallons of water a year.
Tampa needs to replace about $400 million to $500 million worth of pipes.
The extra revenue also should enable the city to hire an outside company to inspect fire hydrants. The Tampa Tribune reported last week that the city hasn't inspected 86 percent of its hydrants in the past year, apparently in violation of state law.
Other money generated by the rate increase would go toward building $40 million in infrastructure to increase the flow of freshwater below the dam at Tampa's Rowlett Park.
Money also will be spent on repaying debt service on the STAR program. STAR, or South Tampa Area Reclaimed, is a program that distributes reclaimed water to some south Tampa neighborhoods. Less than half the people who said they would hook up followed through.
As a way to entice residents to sign up for reclaimed water, the council agreed with the administration's proposal to lower reclaimed water rates. Reclaimed users will be charged $1.20 per 748 gallons of reclaimed water. The existing price is $1.34.
Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( mmiller ) on August 9, 2007 at 5:32 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I have lived in Tampa my whole life. I was once proud of the city I lived in. Now it is like we live in a city where we are nickled and dimed to death. No wonder so many true Florida residents are moving out. Are you telling me that everyone is just now discovering that these pipes are bad. Peoples houses are burning down due to city and county workers not doing their jobs that we pay them to do. Why are the fire hydrants not being checked. 86% not checked.HELLO!!! And why does the mayor want to hire an outside agency to do the work. Isn't that what city of tampa employees are hired to do. Quit paying twice. Some one better start doing their jobs because we the tax payers are tired of paying for it. You can build a million dollar fountain in the middle of crack town in Ybor city that the bums will use as their personal bathtub, when you could have used that money to check all the fire hydrants or make pipe improvements. Shame on our city and county goverment:(
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Posted by ( slappy ) on August 9, 2007 at 5:47 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
This does not surprise me by Mayor Pam at all.Typical Liberial
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Posted by ( Supertek ) on August 10, 2007 at 12:57 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Come on people... don't you realize that Tampa needs to rebuild all it's infrastructure due to the effects of Global Warming??.. It's a good an excuse as any other!
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