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Coconut Creek considers water rate changes as AMI meter rollout and PFAS costs loom
Summary
Staff proposed a 6% water/wastewater rate increase and $1.4 million for advanced metering; commissioners pressed for resident education and a white paper after county PFAS treatment costs were discussed.
City staff told commissioners the city will require approximately $1,400,000 to complete an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) rollout that would be funded from the water and wastewater fund and that the system is expected to pay back in about 4½ years through operational efficiencies.
Peter Gay described the AMI project and told the commission it is funded through water and wastewater rates; staff said they are pursuing about $800,000 in state appropriations to help offset the cost. "We started the process of transitioning to ... advanced automatic meter reading infrastructure," staff noted and said the city will return with a contract for commission approval in May.
Staff also briefed the commission on county and federal developments related to PFAS contamination. Veronica summarized county communications and said Broward County has estimated multi‑million‑dollar capital costs tied to PFAS treatment; staff said the county has discussed smoothing those costs over time but that the city is evaluating how to reflect those county increases in local rate-setting. Veronica said the city's ordinance currently ties increases to the greater of 2.5% or CPI and that staff will propose an ordinance change to allow adjustments that reflect Broward County rate changes.
To help manage short‑term impacts, staff proposed a municipal water/wastewater rate increase of 6% effective June 1. That recommendation prompted pushback from several commissioners, who said residents are sensitive to water bills and urged stronger resident education and confirmation of the county timeline and what the state is funding. One commissioner said, "I don't support raising it to 6% ... I think we keep it at 2.5%" and asked staff to pursue outreach and white papers; staff agreed to prepare a white paper separating the city's responsibilities from county capital plans and to begin resident outreach.
No rate ordinance was adopted at the workshop; staff said it will return with an ordinance change and additional detail after further coordination with Broward County and state agencies.
