WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. – Monday evening, Winter Springs residents should find out if their stormwater fees will double.
The city commission is expected to discuss for the second time a proposal to raise the rate from $5 to $10 per month. After public comment, commissioners are expected to vote on the proposal.
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Winter Springs Mayor Kevin McCann said currently there are $12 million worth of stormwater projects happening across the city that must be funded and completed sooner rather than later only weeks until the start of hurricane season.
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“Why is Winter Springs proposing a stormwater fee increase?” McCann said at the City’s April 28th commission meeting. “Winter Springs is facing a significant flooding risk due to our geography and rapid growth of our region.”
Matt Reeser, Winter Springs City Spokesperson, admitted the City’s stormwater funding situation is “dire.”
“Right now, we can do what we need to do, obviously with grant funding, but we would like to be more proactive in our approach, not reactive,” Reeser said. “We’re getting into hurricane season and we want to make sure that the systems are consistently able to handle what we throw at it, and not just after the fact. Clean these out or do whatever we need to do and fix things.”
News 6 has reported on the city-wide flooding after the last several hurricanes and the effort to clean out creeks and ponds to prevent future flooding.
The city has been struggling to get its finances in order for years and pay for badly-needed projects to fix known flood zones.
A county and state audit in 2023 concluded Winter Springs misused money from the penny sales tax.
Since then, much of the city leadership and commission has turned over.
The 2024 Annual Financial Comprehensive Report presented at last month‘s commission meeting revealed no issues. Ron Whitesides, an audit partner who presented the report, said Winter Springs’ “financial condition as it appears in the audit report is good.”
But the commission does not agree on how to fund stormwater projects now and in the future.
Commissioner Paul Diaz has suggested moving $1 million dollars from the City’s General Fund into the Stormwater Fund to pay for projects immediately.
“Right now my concern is life and property, life and property, $1 million dollars today to protect life and property, not an $80,000 revenue stream [from a proposed doubling of the stormwater fee] that doesn’t start till August,” Diaz told fellow commissioners at last month‘s meeting. “We’re pretty much two-thirds of the way thru hurricane season by the time the first $80,000 comes in.”
In a heated exchange, Commissioner Cade Resnick pushed back.
“Do you feel we have the money to be able to move if we had to?” Diaz asked the City’s Director of Finance. “If we need to move money, could we?”
Diaz was interrupted.
“Let her answer the question, she’s the one testifying,” Diaz said.
“Testifying is another attacking word,” Resnick shot back. “Let’s try this again. Because any rude language from you [Diaz] is going to be stopped.”
Diaz then told Resnick, “You’re off your meds.”
As the mayor tried to calm the commissioners, Resnick called Diaz a “chauvinist.”
The stormwater fee hasn’t been raised in 20 years, according to Reeser. The fee is dependent on the size of the property, but homeowners, on average, would see an increase of $4.50 if commissioners vote to hike it.
Reeser admitted future stormwater fee increases are possible and even likely, even if the current $5 proposed increase is ok’d by the City Commission.
“So this would be the start of a much larger process,” Reeser said. “We are in the middle of a stormwater rate study right now. But that won’t be done until this fall. Well, hurricane season starts in less than a month. We need to start working on some of these projects now.”
Oviedo, a similarly sized city, charges $15 per month for the same fee, according to McCann. Casselberry charges $9.75, and Winter Park charges $23.50.
