Palm Coast – Tuesday February 13th, 2024 the City of Palm Coast held their morning workshop meeting where the City heard a presentation regarding the City’s Utility Rates. Also in the workshop was a presentation on the Sports Activities Center and an update on the infill lot drainage issues.
The City heard the second presentation about the Utility Rate Study. The presentation included a brief overview of the utility department and how it works, along with the presentation on the study to determine the rates for utilities for the next four years.
The culmination of the rate study according to the third party presenter, was a 6% raise on the volume of water and wastewater usage in May, again in October and then again the following October 2025, followed by a 3.5% rate increase in October of 2027. Simultaneously, it was recommended that the City raise the CIAC (Impact fees for utilities) for water by 8.93% in May 2024, May 2025, May 2026 and May 2027, as well as raising the wastewater CIAC fees by 12.49% in May of 2024 and again in 2025. Much discussion was had on the dais, with Danko, Alfin, Klufas and Pontieri all stating their displeasure for the rate hikes. The Council will hear the updated revisions for the Utility rates at the next public meeting. Two business meetings will be required for the passing of any new rate increases.
Also during the meeting the City heard a presentation on the Sports Activities Center. The Sports Activities Center is estimated to cost in the range of 90 million dollars for the entire project. The Feasibility Study showed that the indoor facility may be inadequate, and there were recommendations to add leasable spaces. community spaces, etc. The site plan has also been updated, to give a better idea of the layout and size of the project. This project is being looked at for the westward expansion. Funding options for this project are: Issue Bonds, Capital Improvement Budget, Developer Funded/Private Facility, Public Private Partnership/Municipal Lease. Next steps would be to move forward with the project’s structural framework. Council agreed to move forward with the next step.
