Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
St. Petersburg pauses shutoffs, refers utility billing fixes after residents report shockingly high post‑storm water bills
Summary
Council heard scores of residents report four‑figure water bills after hurricanes Helene and Milton, learned thousands of accounts were estimated or delayed by an aging billing system, and voted to refer ordinance changes and a committee review while pausing disconnections and late fees.
Hundreds of residents who said their water bills spiked after back‑to‑back storms pressed St. Petersburg leaders on Thursday, and the City Council directed staff to seek near‑term relief while sending code changes to a committee of the whole.
Interim billing and collections director Candace Winter told the council the city has about 103,000 utility customers and that thousands of accounts were either estimated or delayed after Tropical Storm Debbie and hurricanes Helene and Milton made meters inaccessible. “We are here this afternoon to billing, estimated utility bills, delayed utility bills, high consumption issues, leaks, adjustments, and touch on the utility rebilling review committee,” Winter said during a briefing that laid out how the legacy Naviline billing system produced estimates using prior‑period averages and how a rate restructure increased…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
