Stormwater fees are back on the table in Manatee County

A measure that residents fought to defeat in 2019 is back on the table.

Manatee County might start implementing stormwater fees to collect up to $20 million more each year to prevent future flooding. 

Commissioner Carol Felts was a citizen in 2019 and was part of the charge against the fees. 

She explained why during the commission’s April 2 work session. She said the previous plan would have been unfair to those living in rural areas.

At the time, the fees were assessed according to the square footage of buildings without taking into account acreage.

“(The county’s) rooftop calculations were including our barns, our chicken coops and our dog pens without taking into account that we were on acreage that absorbs that water,” Felts said. “(Rural areas) were being charged basically the same amount as a suburban or urban area that had a paved road in front of it and a sidewalk.” 

The plan wasn't popular with any of the county's residents. 

Public Works Director Chad Butzow said the biggest pushback in 2019 was from residents in platted neighborhoods because they already have a line item on their Community Development District and Homeowners Association fees that says stormwater, so they didn’t want to pay twice.

But he noted that CDD and HOA stormwater fees only pay for what’s inside those specific neighborhoods, and water leaves CDDs and HOAs. He used the Braden River as an example of “grounds to definitely say everybody should participate.”

Commission Chair George Kruse had a strong message for those residents living within CDDs and HOAs, which includes himself since he lives in Greyhawk Landing. 

“This is the cost of living in a community and society,” he said. “You’re going to leave your subdivision. You’re going to drive down Golf Course Road. You’re going to drive down Rye Road. Guess what? They’re going to be flooded. If we don’t fix this stuff, it’s on you.

After three back to back hurricanes in 2024, commissioners are not expecting the same amount of pushback from residents this time around with “the things we know now,” as Felts put it. 

Felts said the recent hurricanes highlighted Manatee County’s stormwater problems to the degree that it’s a “different world” than it was in 2019. 

However, she and the other residents that were rallying against the fees weren’t just trying to avoid paying them, they were alerting commissioners and staff to the stormwater problems that were starting to crop up from “uncontrolled and unfettered development” out east.

She called for shared responsibility with developers and a more defined plan from staff that lays out exactly what those fees will pay to fix. 

Staff’s presentation included “potential additional costs” that could range from $15-20 million over the current annual allotment of $21.4 million for stormwater maintenance. 

The additional costs would include increased frequency of maintenance on the canals the county currently maintains and the addition of unmaintained waterways like the Braden River. 

Kruse talked about shared responsibility with developers in terms of their expenses when laying down impervious surfaces. 

He said the county could start collecting fees when development is done the wrong way, so now it’s only “a couple extra bucks” to do it the right way. 

He compared the parking lot on Coquina Beach that was finished in 2023 with the much older parking lot at DeSoto Square Mall. Newer lots like Coquina cost more, but drain even if it rains all day. Old-style lots like the mall flood the surrounding canals nearly every time it rains. 

But developer fees would be an aside. The stormwater fees residents would pay could either be assessed monthly through utility bills or annually through tax bills. 

The charge would show up as a special assessment if added to the tax bill, which commissioners seemed to favor for collection purposes. 

Commissioner Tal Siddique noted that the county already has challenges collecting utility bills, so it might be difficult to recoup the costs going that route. 

The need for additional stormwater funding was not up for debate, only the ways in which to tackle the problem. 

Carving out a dedicated stormwater fund from the millage was the other option staff presented. It would take about 18 months to implement versus implementing a stormwater fee, which would take about six months to a year.

Before any decisions can be made, staff will have to bring back a more solid plan to commissioners for a vote, but a date has not been set yet.