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North Port staff weigh cutting water treatment or pressure to save roughly $400,000; fire safety and taste flagged as risks
Summary
Utilities director presented two FY27 savings options — reduced chemical dosing ($165,000) and lower system pressure (modeled at 45 psi for $250,000) — that would maintain regulatory compliance but could affect water taste and fire suppression; commissioners and fire staff urged caution.
Trisha Whisner, the city's utilities director, presented two level‑of‑service options to reduce utility operating costs as staff build the FY27 budget: reduced chemical dosing for aesthetic treatment (estimated savings ~$165,000) and a system pressure reduction (modeled to 45 psi, estimated savings ~$250,000). "If we were to produce water with reduced chemical dosing, it would still meet all the requirements for being safe to drink. It just might not look or smell like what we're used to," Whisner said.
Whisner described the utilities fund as an enterprise fund that must meet regulatory standards, and said staff had run a…
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