PROPOSED SEWER RATE INCREASE

Is the required notice improper--again?

Some IRB residents received their Pinellas County Utility statement last Friday (7/18/08). Inside was a legally required notice of the proposed sewer & solid waste rate increase. Why wasn’t the amount of the increase included in the notice? Was the amount required to be disclosed in the notice? You be the judge.

Specifically with regard to the sewer increase, here’s what the statute says:

180.136 Water or sewer utilities; notice.--Before a local government water or sewer utility increases any rate, charge, or fee for water or sewer utility service, the utility shall provide notice of the proposed increase to each customer of the utility through the utility's billing process. The notice shall state the date, time, and place of the meeting of the governing board of the local government at which such increase will be considered. The notice required in this section is in addition to any notice and public meeting requirements for ordinance adoption as provided by general law.

Observation: The statute says that the notice “shall provide notice of THE proposed increase”—NOT “shall provide notice of A proposed increase.”

Doesn’t that mean that the actual amount of the increase should have been included in the billing notice? One would think so—especially since the pending increase could mean up to an additional $360 out of the pockets of IRB residents!

During the last unsuccessful attempt at raising rates, you may remember receiving a blue post card only days before the May 27th hearing. That post card was sent out by the Pinellas County Utilities in an effort to compensate for an inserting error on their end, which resulted in the rate increase notice being inadvertently omitted from our billing statements.

The City also placed a $443 ad to run in the St. Petersburg Times promoting a public hearing for this increase. The hearing was ultimately canceled due to insufficient notice to the public. Did the City throw $443 of our money down the drain needlessly by not canceling the ad and averting the expenditure? Or, was the City possibly reimbursed by Pinellas County Utilities for the cost of this ad? More later once the City responds to a public records request for documentation showing that the City did, in fact, pay for this ad and was NOT reimbursed.

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB