St. Pete Utility Rate Increase Approved

St. Petersburg residents will see more expensive utility bills soon. 

City council voted 7-1 to approve a utility rate increase. Council member Wengay Newton was the lone dissenting vote. 

The water, wastewater and reclaimed water increases are proposed at 3.75 percent for all three services, according to city documents. No increases are proposed for sanitation services. 

According to the city, customers will see their utility bill increase on average of $1.94 per month, or 2.39 percent. Residents who use reclaimed water will see an additional 68-cent increase. 

Final approval of the rate increase will be voted on Sept. 19. 

"In the case of each of the utility fees, our effort has been to minimize the cost increases due to the impact already felt by our resident of the difficult economy," according to a memo from Mayor Bill Foster.

Council member Bill Dudley said St. Pete's water and sanitation departments are often overlooked. 

"It’s one of those things that we all take for granted, that everything works and it doesn’t just happen by chance," Dudley said. "It's very commendable for our city to take pride in the fact that we utilize our personnel and we are doing the things that need to be done so we don’t have that interruption of service.

"A $1.94 rate increase is pretty slim when you consider what you get," Dudley added. "It’s definitely a lot of bang for your buck." 

Newton argued that while usage went down or remained flat, taxpayers will still have to pay more in their utility bills. 

Public works administrator Mike Connors said the increase was due in large part to infrastructure replacement costs.