Council members press for state help to repair water, sewer and septic systems

Council members at a New Port Richey work session urged the city to focus on basic infrastructure repairs — notably water, sewer and septic‑system conversions — and to pursue county, state and federal funding to speed up projects.

"I'm always about ... keeping our backbone of the city in good shape, which is our infrastructure," Matt said, arguing the council should target systems already known to be deteriorating and seek reimbursement or support from higher levels of government. He singled out septic conversions as a high priority because of contamination risks to local waterways.

Pete, who described recent conversations with Pasco County planning officials, said the county has significant post‑hurricane rehab funds and that the city should emphasize the economic impact of proposed projects to improve funding chances. "If there were projects in the city that had an economic impact," Pete said, "that could include the downtown," and make them more attractive to county and regional partners.

City Manager Debbie Manns said staff maintains a capital plan but also has to respond to emergent failures. "We have, typically, a plan, and then we have problems that occur that we need to respond to," she said, describing two tracks: planned capital work and urgent repairs.

Members discussed tying infrastructure work to tourism or trail projects to broaden funding opportunities, including connections to the Pinellas Trail and regional coast‑to‑coast trail concepts. Several members pushed for more proactive outreach to county and regional partners to assemble grants and technical support.

The session produced no formal motions. Council members asked staff to continue identifying priority rehab projects and to pursue available grant programs, with follow‑up suggested in future budget and workshop items.