Manatee County OKs new Piney Point contract after $23 million budget shortfall

After reporting a $23 million reimbursement shortfall from the state of Florida, commissioners agreed to continue Manatee County’s role in the cleanup of Piney Point without committing additional county funds.

Earlier this month, the board debated whether to continue operating a treatment plant and injection well that handles contaminated water from the former phosphate plant near Port Manatee and Tampa Bay. A major spill at the contaminated site threatened an environmental disaster in 2021, prompting the state to close the site for good.

The debate arose after staff reported the county has spent over $23 million on the facility that the state has not reimbursed. County officials said they expected to be repaid after previous assurances from Gov. Ron DeSantis and state leaders that Piney Point’s cleanup would be funded with up to $200 million in state dollars.

A multiyear agreement presented by staff at the June 2 meeting would have committed more county money for the project. But some commissioners questioned why they should approve it without proof the state will reimburse the county.

Following that discussion, staff came back with a new plan that will allow the well to keep operating for at least another year without digging into more county funds.

Manatee County approves new agreement for Piney Point facility

The revised agreement grants a one-year extension to CIP Solutions, the contractor that operates the treatment plant on the county’s behalf.

County staff explained that the court-appointed receiver who is overseeing the closure of Piney Point has about $6.4 million left that the county can draw on to pay the contractor. The county will pay up front and can apply to be reimbursed later this year, staff said.

The narrower contract was enough to win a majority of the board’s support. After a 3-3 stalemate at the June 2 meeting, Commissioner Tal Siddique changed his vote in favor of the new contract.

“I feel more comfortable with this,” Siddique said. “My chief concern in pulling this last time was a lack of information about where we are with Piney Point.”

Siddique said he would eventually like the county to consider operating the facility with its own staff rather than a contractor, if it can secure funds from the state.

“If we can operate a dam, why can we not operate a deep injection well?” Siddique said.

“This is kind of what we asked for as the current best-case scenario while we figure out the long-term options that we have,” Commissioner George Kruse said. “We’re buying ourselves time to do that without taxpayers incurring the cost.”

However, Commissioner Bob McCann criticized the agreement, arguing that the county should consider other contractors before moving forward. McCann also cited a letter that he said board members received from local attorney and former state Senator Bill Galvano on behalf of CIP Solutions.

McCann said the letter, which was not attached to the meeting agenda, contained a “veiled threat” that the company would walk away from the site and leave Piney Point’s cleanup in jeopardy if the board did not approve the contract.

McCann argued that if the company did walk off the job, it would be the state’s responsibility to take over the treatment plant.

“We’re already $23.5 million on the hook for this,” McCann said. “We don’t know if we’re ever going to be able to recover that money. This is not a Manatee County taxpayer problem.”

The board approved the agreement 4-1, with McCann dissenting and Commissioner Jason Bearden absent.

Staff said the county has begun talks with Florida lawmakers about recovering the $23.4 million the county has spent on the treatment plant.