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Board adopts utility rate schedule and authorizes financing to meet state mandates
Summary
St. Johns County adopted a proposed water and wastewater rate schedule effective Oct. 1, 2026, authorized a county financing team to pursue long-term financing, and approved bond financing language for up to $345 million to address capital projects and unfunded mandates including indirect potable reuse.
St. Johns County’s Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt updated water and wastewater rates and to authorize long-term financing steps intended to support mandatory capital projects.
Utilities Director Neal Shinkre and Chief Financial Manager James Galley briefed the Board on operating cost pressures and state-imposed requirements; staff noted indirect potable reuse (IPR) and other unfunded state mandates that must be completed by 2032 and estimated IPR-related costs at $250 million. Shinkre described the rate adjustments as intended to preserve affordability while allowing recovery of needed capital and operating costs. "Unfunded State mandates...will cost $250 million," staff noted during the presentation.
The Board adopted Resolution No. 2026-72 to implement the proposed rate schedule effective Oct. 1, 2026, directed staff to assemble a county financing team, and separately approved a bond financing reimbursement resolution up to $345,000,000 for utilities capital projects listed in the Utilities Capital Improvement Plan; all votes were unanimous (5-0). Staff said that specific borrowing terms and project-by-project financing would be developed by the financing team.
