Lake Placid advisory board recommends 15% utility rate hike to town council amid infrastructure needs

The Lake Placid advisory board voted to recommend that the Town Council approve a 15% increase to the town’s total utilities budget, a split proposal that staff and board members described as intended to address a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar operating shortfall and deferred infrastructure work.

The recommendation, moved on the floor by board member Jack Tomlin, was presented as a compromise after staff said an outside review recommended larger increases. “It’s gonna be a 22 for the water and then 5% for the wastewater,” a staff member said when describing the Florida Rural Water recommendation. Tomlin moved that the board recommend a 15% total increase; the board later refined the recommendation to a 10% increase for water and 5% for wastewater when putting the split forward to the council.

Why it matters: board members and public commenters said the utility has been operating with insufficient rates and deferred maintenance, leaving the town dependent on reserves and outside grants while facing a projected deficit. The board’s recommendation sends the proposal to the Lake Placid Town Council, which has authority to set municipal rates for this publicly owned utility.

Board and staff said Thursday that the town faces both near-term and…