Will Bradenton officials raise water rates? Why increases may start next month
Bradenton officials may raise utility rates, with more increases likely to follow after city leaders emphasized a critical need for infrastructure funding.
City council members reviewed staff’s request to increase city utility rates by 7.5% at the May 6 workshop meeting. If approved during a vote in June, the rates would be effective immediately and would result in a $3 increase on the average utility bill.
The discussion comes as the City of Bradenton is in the midst of its “Face It, Fix It” initiative, which includes hundreds of millions of dollars in planned stormwater, wastewater and drinking water projects. The projects are focused on replacing Bradenton’s aging utility infrastructure, which continues to cause wastewater spills into the Manatee River.
City staff emphasized the importance of starting to increase the utility rates, given the urgent need to address the city’s infrastructure.
“The information we have thus far shows a pretty underfunded capital need, and it’s not going to get better,” City Administrator Rob Perry told the council. “It just isn’t going to get better unless we start adjusting the rate.”
Bradenton proposes water bill increase
The city hired a water and environmental consultant, Woodard & Curran, to conduct a utility rate study and assess the city’s infrastructure needs. City officials say this report will determine the status of the city’s current rates and look ahead at the next several years.
“Everybody agrees the capital projects need to be done, those are a necessity for us to continue to provide water sewer services to the City of Bradenton,” City Chief Operating Officer Lance Williams said. “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of how.”
According to Williams — who reviewed a preliminary report but did not present it to council on May 6 — the 7.5% increase is a “stepping stone” of an increase.
“It would be astonishing if we presented it, quite frankly,” Williams said of the preliminary report. “The 7.5% represents a very small portion of what they’re saying the needs are going to be.”
Williams and other officials said the city was fortunate to receive millions of dollars in outside infrastructure funding, but it can’t rely on those sources.
“We are using reserves to pay for some of those capital improvements. We don’t have the hundreds of millions of dollars that we’re getting from outside funding in our reserves,” Williams said. “We have enough to sustain us, but we have got to make changes to our rate structure to make sure that we continually operate in the black.”
According to data presented by city staff, the City of Bradenton’s utility rates are below most other municipalities in the area.
“Where we’re at right now is we really haven’t adjusted it as would have been appropriate in the past to keep up with repair, replacement and preventative maintenance,” Perry said. “We’re behind the eight ball, but we’re catching up.”
For example, Bradenton charges 18% less than the City of Palmetto and 14% less than Manatee County for 4,000 gallons of water per month. Bradenton is also charging about 33% less than the City of Sarasota for the same amount of water use.
“We’ve got some improvement to do, and we have to ask our rate payers to bear with us to help us build the infrastructure,” Perry said. “It’ll be more affordable, it’ll be more reliable, it’ll be better environmentally in the long run.”
Mayor Gene Brown said, while he didn’t want to place blame on previous councils, he felt it’s important that this council start changing utility rates to address the infrastructure.
“I don’t want to look to the past and say somebody didn’t do something,” Brown said. “But if we don’t do it, shame on us.”
Bradenton leaders voice concerns about rate increase
Councilwoman Marianne Barnebey said it’s critical for the city to explain to residents why the rate increases are necessary.
“I would not be surprised if the entire chamber was packed with people saying, ‘I can’t pay that,’” Barnebey said.
Others echoed her concerns about getting the right messaging out, and Councilwoman Lisa Gonzalez Moore added that she’d rather see the Woodard & Curran report before jumping to rate increases.
“I would love to either see the preliminary report or have the real report, and then we can have this conversation and really come up with a plan,” Moore said. “I’m just very concerned, and it’s not necessarily messaging or appearances. I’m actively concerned that our residents will actually ... suffer.”
However, Perry and Williams emphasized that the 7.5% increase would be a necessary starting point, and the council may need to raise rates further after the full report comes out.
“If we waited on the report…we’re kicking the can down the road,” Williams said. “We’re not presenting this as just a 7.5%, arbitrary number that we’re hoping that we get, because it’ll be fun to increase the rate. This is a necessity that has to happen, and it needs to happen soon.”
City council members are expected to vote on the 7.5% rate increase on June 10, and the full Woodard & Curran study will likely be presented to the city council in July.
