The Seminole City Council voted 6-1 to raise the city’s stormwater assessment to $165 per equivalent residential unit for fiscal 2027, a $25 increase over the current rate.
The narrow vote followed a lengthy debate over project funding, the timing of federal grants and the strain on taxpayers. It marks the city’s first rate change since it created its non-ad valorem stormwater utility.
Staff gave the council two options: an initial $150 proposal and a recommended $165 rate. City Manager Ann Toney-Deal and Public Works Director Rodney Due backed the higher figure as a way to spare residents a sharper jump later.
According to staff projections, holding the rate at $150 in 2027 would force a 30% increase between 2028 and 2029 to keep infrastructure projects on schedule. Collecting $165 now, they said, would stabilize the city’s five-year plan and hold the rate to a $250 cap by 2031.
“The biggest problem that I’ve seen from residents ... is when you get a massive increase in a year,” said Due, who has spent 30 years in water and wastewater management. “If you keep it down, just to hold it ... and then you see this deficit coming up, and then you got to increase it by 30% the following year, that hurts, and that’s a hard one.”
Toney-Deal noted that because the charge is a non-ad valorem assessment, it would not be affected by pending state property tax legislation.
At the center of the debate is the Lake Pearl drainage project, which carries a $5.5 million price tag. To help cover it, Seminole applied for a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant tied to Hurricane Helene. The grant is a 75% cost-share, meaning FEMA would pay about $4.1 million and leave the city with a local match of roughly $1.4 million.
Due offered an upbeat update on the competitive process. Of 42 projects Pinellas County submitted, he said, Seminole’s is one of only nine to advance to the federal level.
“The local mitigation strategy group that has to vote on which ones go forward ... used ours as an example for all the other cities and counties,” Due said. “They say, ‘We need to look at the City of Seminole, how we submitted it, how it was written.’”
Still, federal approval is not guaranteed, and the timeline is uncertain. Due said he could offer only a “scientific guess” that an answer would come within 12 months. If the grant comes through, staff said, future rates could be rolled back. Without it, the $165 fee is the baseline needed to fund the first five years of stormwater operations.
The increase drew sharp criticism from Vice Mayor Chris Burke, who cast the lone dissenting vote. Burke, who said he had bristled at the $140 fee set last year, criticized the staff’s projections as over-optimistic.
“The packet that we got was very entertaining to read, with the dancing about ‘maybe we’ll get the grant, maybe we won’t,’” Burke said. “I don’t want to take another big bite out of our people’s pocket if I can help it. ... We can always raise it for FY28, but I don’t want to take another big bite.”
At Burke’s request, staff estimated that a smaller $10 increase, to $150, would generate about $69,000 based on the city’s 6,900 parcels.
Council member Trish Springer backed the $165 plan, framing it as a homeowner looking ahead.
“The way I look at it, as a resident, homeowner ... I’m looking at the future, and I’m seeing less money at the end of the fifth year,” Springer said. “Have gradual increases as opposed to slamming in year six.”
Residents can claim a 4% to 5% discount by paying their bill before Nov. 30.
City staff will now certify the $165 rate to the Pinellas County Property Appraiser for the coming tax cycle.