You've probably seen headlines saying water and sanitation will cost more in St. Petersburg come Oct. 1.
But why, and where is your money going?
First, let's answer the "why."
Last year, the St Pete City Council approved a pricey plan to improve the sewage system that was blamed for the 2015-2016 sewage crisis.
St Pete Public Works Communications Manager Bill Logan said, "We are paying right now for over $300 million in improvements. That has to come from somewhere and the ratepayers are being asked to do their fair share to pick up some of the costs of making their systems better."
Second, how will your money be used?
"This is going for increased resiliancy, increased reliabililty, cutting down on inflow and infultration into our sewer system and basically making this a better run sewage disposal system in total," Logan said.
The Tampa Bay Times published a story saying to expect an increase of $7 to $11 per month, but Logan says not so fast.-- that figure is from a consultant company, not from the city.
The draft of for the rate increase is going to be put out in July, then official publication first week of August, then on Aug 23 folks will have the opportunity to comment on it.
The draft will include rate increases for the next few years.
After public comment, possible changes will be made before going into effect Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year for the city of St. Petersburg.
"Nobody wants to pay more for anything, but nobody wants to have systems tdon'tdont work well either," Logan said.
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