Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Sewer work plan is illegal
Hollywood told it can’t raise taxes to pay for system upgrade
HOLLYWOOD – Sometimes the law of the land interferes with the best-laid schemes.
For nearly two years, Hollywood officials had what they thought was the perfect plan to get the entire city off septic tanks to help prep for sea-level rise and redevelopment: Borrow the $320 million needed to install the missing sewer lines, then make everyone pay by raising rates.
There’s just one very big hitch, Hollywood officials learned just days ago: It’s not legal. An outside legal consultant delivered the
news to Hollywood commissioners last week. A Florida Supreme Court ruling back in 1976 says you can’t make current customers pay for a system upgrade designed to benefit new customers.
That bad news now has city officials facing a new reality: Their plan to get everyone off septic tanks within 10 years is going to take much longer.
Nearly half of the city’s households are on septic tanks and need to hook up to sewer lines when and if they get installed. Most of those properties sit west of Federal Highway.
Commissioner Peter Hernandez said the plan was great, until it wasn’t.
“Everything was peachy keen and hunky dory, until we were told last week that it was illegal,” Hernandez said. “We had no idea it was illegal. The rates were going to go up 5 percent a year or so to spread the pain.”
And the fact that commissioners found out so late in the game that the plan was doomed from the start doesn’t look good, he said.
“We’re the ones who have to face the residents and they look at us like, ‘You guys don’t know what you’re doing,’” he said.
Homeowner Jack Izzo, who has a septic tank, criticized city officials for being taken by surprise by a law that’s been on the books for 43 years.
“It’s a total embarrassment,” he said. “No one keeps up on all the laws and rules. It’s like Keystone Kops watching our city.”
Resident Ann Ralston says her home has been linked in to Hollywood’s
sewer system for years.
And she did not take kindly to the news that her city had been planning to hike her sewer bill to help pay back a $320 million bond.
“I knew they wanted to convert [the rest of the city] but I didn’t know how they were going to pay for it,” Ralston said. “I would have fought that tooth and nail. I already pay through the nose for my service.”
Residents in the dark
Under the old plan, everyone’s bills would have gone up significantly.
As the projects got under way, the monthly bills would have gone from $27 to $81, with increases planned over the coming decade until they reached $101 per month.
Now Hollywood has to
come up with a new way to pay for the sewer lines.
“My concern is getting it done now and not waiting until the fairy brings us $300 million,” Commissioner Kevin Biederman said.
Hollywood’s consultant says the city has three options:
No. 1: They can search high and low for grants.
No. 2: They can go ahead and borrow the money and
make the new customers pay it back. That would mean 43 percent of Hollywood’s households — nearly 15,000 property owners — would get a fee of at least $3,000 added to their property tax bill for 30 years.
No. 3: They can tap Hollywood’s day-to-day $306 million budget to help pay for some of those new pipes, though that seems unlikely because Hollywood already has a projected $5 million shortfall for next year.
Commissioners are going with option No. 1.
“The cost of putting in the sewer system is something we’d finance by ourselves,” Mayor Josh Levy said. “To expect that expense to be borne on the backs of the homeowners … that’s just not going to happen.”
Despite the setback, Hollywood is not giving up on its goal to get everyone linked up to its sewer system, said Francois Dumond, the city’s interim director of Public Utilities.
“We are going to evaluate the financing options,” he said. “We’re not stopping. We’re moving forward. We understand that sewer systems are the future.”
Once the sewer pipes are installed, property owners be required to hook up to the system within 90 days. And even if they refuse, they’ll still get a sewer bill from the city.
Each homeowner would have to pay an estimated $7,000 to connect to the city’s sewer system and close down their septic tank. To do that, they’d need to hire a plumber for around $2,000 to pump out the tank and fill it with sand.
Residents who qualify for a financing plan with the city could pay that cost over 5 to 10 years, with interest.
The mayor was hopeful his city would find a way to make it all happen.
“We have to abide by the law of the land,” Levy said. “Here’s where we face the music. Since the cost of installing these sewer lines is more than any one homeowner can bear, the rest of the burden has to be on the city.”