Hollywood Commission backs master plans and a long-range ‘Vision 2050’ septic‑to‑sewer goal; funding details deferred

Hollywood City staff presented detailed water, wastewater and stormwater master plans at a Feb. 18 workshop and won commission consensus to proceed with the plans and a long-range septic‑to‑sewer goal. The workshop focused on a five‑year "core" capital program to address urgent regulatory and consent‑order risks and on options for phased conversion of roughly 17,000 unsewered accounts.

The presentation laid out five areas staff asked the commission to endorse: adopt the water and wastewater master plans; approve a five‑year core capital improvement program (CIP); agree to a septic‑to‑sewer program (phasing and basin priorities); provide direction on a rate structure to fund the work; and consider amendments to the sewer ordinance related to hooking‑up and right‑of‑way maintenance. "This is a workshop... it does not require any formal decisions today," the city manager said at the start of the meeting. Vin Morello, director of utilities, summarized the staff recommendation: "The core investment... is $780,000,000 and that has to be done in the first 5 years." (staff presentation)

Why it matters: staff described a plant with years of deferred maintenance, multiple component failures and a DEP consent order; repairing that infrastructure is the near‑term priority staff said. Vin and consultants showed a larger master‑plan total of about $2.7 billion when septic‑to‑sewer expansion and other projects are included, and a separate septic expansion estimate of about $1.3 billion to serve 17,000 unsewered accounts. Staff emphasized that some components are regulatory requirements that cannot be postponed.

Funding and rate direction: finance staff and Stantec presented rate scenarios and a multi‑year borrowing plan. Phyllis Shaw, deputy director of finance, reviewed recent legislation (HB 1123, effective 07/01/2025) that affects sewer funding options and outlined funding mixes staff modeled (approximately 50% debt and 50% cash in the illustrations). One illustrative five‑year rate plan shown by staff would raise a typical single‑family water and sewer bill from about $99 per month today to roughly $209 per month in five years under a core program plus near‑term borrowing assumptions; staff also modeled 10‑, 15‑, 20‑ and 30‑year septic conversion schedules with lower annual impacts under longer horizons.

Equity, homeowner costs and mitigation: commissioners repeatedly pressed affordability and equity concerns. Staff estimated an average homeowner cost to abandon a septic system and connect to sewer (lateral installation, abandonment, reserve capacity fee and permit) in the $7,000 range per property, though actual figures vary by location and site conditions. Commissioners asked staff to evaluate funding or assistance for low‑ and moderate‑income households, to pursue outside grants aggressively, and to present alternative rate designs (for example, cost‑of‑service approaches that differentiate large users and commercial classes).

Operational and ordinance changes: staff proposed an ordinance change to assign the city responsibility for laterals in the public right‑of‑way to accelerate an I&I (inflow and infiltration) remediation program. Cassandra Myers, assistant director of operations, recommended creating an in‑house lateral repair and maintenance team (benchmarking Fort Lauderdale) and estimated adding 17–18 positions during start‑up if the city pursues that option.

Commission direction and next steps: after extended discussion commissioners indicated consensus to adopt the water and wastewater master plans and the five‑year core CIP, and to pursue a septic‑to‑sewer program aligned with the stormwater master plan. The commission coalesced around a long‑range goal (characterized in the meeting as "Vision 2050" or a 25‑ to 30‑year horizon) to balance affordability and urgency; they did not adopt a fee schedule or an exact rate plan at the workshop and directed staff to return with more detailed funding, ordinance language and equity options in a third workshop.

What’s next: staff will return with formal ordinance language, more precise rate modeling, options for targeted homeowner assistance and a proposed interlocal agreement (ILA) analysis regarding regional biosolids disposal. The commission also asked staff to provide a plant site tour and more community outreach before formal actions are considered.