Public notification error voids Alachua water rate increase

Alachua residents saw their water and wastewater rates nearly double on May 1, but they didn’t see a public notice in their utility bill for the public meetings being held to consider the raise.

And that oversight has made the entire increase, which has been in place for nearly three months, null and void, leaving the city to now restart the process with new public hearings on Aug. 9 and Aug. 23.

Florida Statute 180.136 dictates, “Before a local government water or sewer utility increases any rate, charge, or fee for water or sewer utility service, the utility shall provide notice of the proposed increase to each customer of the utility through the utility’s billing process.”

City Manager Traci Cain said, in an e-mail, the city found out about the oversight on July 19.

“The city was unaware of the additional advance notice requirement,” Cain said. “Therefore, once we were made aware of the provision, we immediately took corrective steps.”

The city not only has to redo its public hearing process, but it also has to sort out the past three months of water rate charges.

The average monthly residential water consumption in Alachua is 6,700 gallons according to a city report published in March.  The charge for the first 7,000 gallons of water usage was $11.70 before the city bumped it up to $20.47 in May.

Residential wastewater rates, meanwhile, were billed at $24.50 for the first 7,000 gallons before the increase was instituted.  The increase in wastewater rates pushed that charge to $40.92.

Residents charged at the increased rate for May, June and July will receive adjustments to their accounts, which will be reflected on their next utility bill, according to a press release from the city.

Cain said the city doesn’t yet know how much revenue will be lost as a result of the mistake.

“We are still calculating revenue impact projections,” Cain said. “We are evaluating the total revenue impact, and we will provide the information to the city commission.”

She said the city is working on putting in place protections from allowing the same mistake to be made again.

“We are developing a process for additional ordinance/resolution review that will assist in avoiding the issue in the future,” Cain said in an e-mail.