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Council backs modest stormwater fee increase to fund maintenance, master plan and capital needs
Summary
Plantation council approved a preliminary adjustment to the stormwater utility fee (CPI increase to $54.75 per ERU) and heard staff's update on staffing, equipment purchases, a stormwater master plan and capital projects including Country Club Estates and waterway dredging.
The City Council voted to set a preliminary stormwater utility fee increase so the amount can be included on trim notices: an automatic Consumer Price Index adjustment of 2.2 percent that would raise the fee to $54.75 per ERU. The fee setting was the administrative step required prior to the public hearing and final vote later in the summer.
Engineering staff summarized the city's recent stormwater investments and operational work. City Engineer Sameera Shalem and Stormwater Manager Bill Mulder reported that the department now has a full staff after recent hires and has deployed nearly $1.35 million in new equipment, including a new jet-vac, street sweeper, mechanical aquatic harvester, backhoe and pumps. Mulder said crews completed a citywide inspection of the municipality's 104 acres of water bodies over the past 12 months, cleared more than 8,240 linear feet of canals and cleaned more than 1,400 of the city's roughly 3,680 catch basins.
Shalem told council the master plan will present recommended capital projects to address modeled deficiencies in places such as the Jacaranda Country Club and Country Club Estates; she said staff expects to return with a workshop and presentations on the master plan in October. Staff also asked for funding to advance Country Club Estates Phase 1 engineering, and to conduct a citywide waterway survey and maintenance/boat-ramp planning for dredging and access.
Finance Director Anna Oceanno clarified that this vote sets the preliminary fee to be published on trim notices; the council will hold a separate final hearing (planned for Sept. 12) before adopting any final rate. Staff also said they will include a comprehensive rate study to align recommended fees with the master-plan capital needs. Shalem said staff will pursue grant funding and appropriations to supplement utility funds for capital projects.
Ending: Council approved the preliminary CPI adjustment and directed staff to continue the master-plan work, rate study and follow-up public hearings. Staff said the utility's operational budget would still require some fund-balance use this fiscal year but that additional grant funding and rate study recommendations should clarify a long-term funding path.
