Water Connection Fees QUADRUPLE for West Melbourne, Florida Developers; and Sewer Connections by 1 1/2!!! (FloridaToday)

Feb.04, 2009 in Drought, Public Works, Water Industry, Water Management, Water Rates

(Feb. 4, 2009, Florida Today)

WEST MELBOURNE — Developers will pay four times as much to join West Melbourne’s water system and almost 1½ times more for sewer connections.

Fees for all new water and sewer hookups will go into effect in 90 days, under the plan the West Melbourne City Council approved Tuesday night by a 7-0 vote.

The old fees did not cover costs of upgrades, such as transmission lines, water-storage tanks and expansion of the sewer plant, City Manager David Reynal said.

West Melbourne has four water improvements costing $16 million, as well as a sewer plant expansion priced at $15 million to $18 million, scheduled during the next five years.

If West Melbourne hadn’t increased the connection fees, the city would have to pass the additional cost onto customers, in the form of rate increases, a move that Reynal advised against.

“Connection fees are a way for development to pay for itself,” he said.

Customers already in the system won’t pay higher fees.

Water connection fees will go up in phases over the next five years as a way to pass on the relatively low bids the city has seen onto new customers, Reynal said. Bids on recent projects came in 28 percent to 58 percent lower than engineers estimated.

The cost to hook up a home, for example, would go from $360.64 to $1,518. It then would increase more each year until 2013, when the water-connection fee would be $3,036.

The sewer connection fee for the same home would rise from $2,045 to $3,000 in one increase.

(Original Article Here)