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Pasco proposes multi-year water-sewer rate increases to fund two wastewater plants, seeks public input
Summary
County staff and consultant presented a four-year rate plan — a 3.75% increase in FY2026 followed by 4.75% in subsequent years — to fund operating costs and capital projects including two wastewater-treatment-plant expansions; staff will hold a second public hearing Sept. 3 in Dade City before adoption.
Pasco County staff and consultant Stantec presented a four-year rate plan on Aug. 19 proposing a 3.75% increase to water and sewer rates in fiscal 2026 followed by 4.75% increases in FY2027–29. The proposal is intended to recover operating costs, meet capital-improvement plan needs and fund two wastewater-treatment-plant expansions identified in the county’s capital program.
Tracy Overtoher, interim director of Public Infrastructure, Fiscal & Business Administration, introduced the item and said the package includes a revenue-sufficiency analysis, cost-allocation adjustments and rate-design recommendations. Consultant Justin Grant reviewed revenue drivers and major capital items. Two wastewater-plant projects — Land O’Lakes and Wesley Chapel expansions totaling roughly $403 million in capital costs shown in the planning materials — were cited as major near-term capital needs that influence the FY2027 financing plan.
The study also recommends increasing reclaimed-water bulk-user rates and creating two retail volumetric tiers for reclaimed service to improve cost recovery. Staff proposed lowering the retail reclaimed baseline from 10,000 gallons included in the base to 8,000 gallons and adding a second volumetric tier so that very high irrigation users pay a higher incremental rate. For bulk reclaimed customers (for example golf courses), staff presented alternative cost-recovery options; staff recommended an intermediate 25% increase in reclaim cost recovery while continuing to evaluate distribution and storage needs.
Board members asked about the county’s planned acquisition schedule of other local private water systems and about reclaimed-water distribution. Staff said the county has targeted acquisition of a smaller private system in FY2026 and another in FY2029 (work is underway with FUA-related diligence) and that distribution infrastructure remains a constraint in wider reclaimed-water adoption. Commissioners encouraged staff to pursue grants and other funding to accelerate corridor and distribution projects and to look at distribution nodes that would enable more reclaimed water usage.
The Aug. 19 meeting served as the first of two required public hearings; staff will present the final rate resolution at the Sept. 3 Dade City meeting and, if adopted, rates would take effect Oct. 1, with bulk-user changes effective Dec. 1 to allow billing-notice periods.
