Council adopts stormwater assessments amid public calls for maintenance-first approach

Tampa City Council voted Aug. 7 to adopt the city’s annual non-ad valorem stormwater service assessment and the stormwater capital improvement assessment roll, while the public and several council members urged the city to prioritize maintenance and smaller capital pockets over a single large project.

Assistant City Attorney McLean Evans told the council the service assessment rate remains $82 per Equivalent Stormwater Unit (ESU), unchanged since 2015, and that the non-ad valorem roll adopted in 2003 funds stormwater management across the city’s service area. No written objections were submitted prior to the hearing, Evans said.

After public comment, Councilwoman Lisa Hertek moved the resolution for the service assessment roll; the council approved it unanimously. Later, the council adopted the stormwater capital improvement assessment roll, which funds targeted capital projects in the Central and Lower Basin; the capital assessment rate remains $89.55 per ESU, unchanged since it reached that level in 2021.

Several residents urged the council to devote more funding and management attention to stormwater maintenance, not only to large new projects. Stephanie Pointer, a neighborhood commenter, said stormwater fees must be spent on stormwater work only and warned against using the assessment to subsidize unrelated staff or operations. "We need to make sure stormwater is being spent for stormwater and nothing else," she told the council.

Community members and neighborhood advocates said maintenance backlogs — clogged drains, pumps that have not been inspected in years, and underfunded routine work — are a primary cause of repeated flooding. Steve Michelini, who has researched stormwater facilities, told the council many systems are nonfunctional without serious maintenance and called for an achievable maintenance-first work program.

Council members debated project scale and prioritization. Some, including Councilman Guido Carlson, criticized a large proposed South Howard capital project as an expensive, disruptive option that risked displacing smaller, essential maintenance work; others said the capital plan funds larger basin-wide fixes. Councilman Mike Maniscalco said he had previously sought more detail on funding choices and urged the administration to present options that limit bonding and identify maintenance needs first.

Why it matters: The assessments authorize recurring revenue that funds city stormwater operations and a program of capital improvements in defined basins. Adoption of the rolls allows stormwater programs to continue planning and funding both maintenance and larger capital projects while council and the public press for greater transparency on priorities.

What happened next: Both assessment rolls were approved by roll call votes with unanimous support on Aug. 7. Staff said they will implement the adopted assessment rolls and continue to develop project scopes and maintenance plans.

Background: The service assessment was first adopted in 2003; the service rate has been $82 per ESU since 2015. The stormwater capital improvement assessment was implemented with a tiered approach that reached $89.55 per ESU in 2021. Public commenters raised questions about prior maintenance, allocation of assessment revenue and whether the planned regional projects will provide expected benefits without stronger maintenance investment.

Looking ahead: Council members asked staff to produce clearer maintenance work programs and to show how capital projects will be phased to avoid neglecting routine maintenance that residents say is causing repeat flooding in some neighborhoods.