St. Petersburg City Council greenlit price hikes for water, wastewater, stormwater, sanitation, and reclaimed water services set to kick in Oct. 1. The sanitation and stormwater hikes each squeaked through 6-2, while the ordinance covering water, wastewater, and reclaimed water passed 5-3.
Water prices will jump 7.5%, wastewater 6.5%, reclaimed water 9.75%, stormwater 8.5%, and sanitation 6%. City staff predict a 6.9% total hike for someone using 3,500 gallons of water with a Tier 2 stormwater property.
Councilmembers Gina Driscoll and Corey Givens voted against the sanitation and stormwater hikes. Vice Chair Richie Floyd teamed up with Driscoll and Givens to reject the water, wastewater, and reclaimed water ordinance.
The hikes stem from the yearly utility price study, which examines how much money is needed to pay for operations and big projects. Staff pointed to inflation, old pipes, equipment prices, rules from the government, and borrowing expenses as reasons the systems need more cash.
“We are trying to do the best we can and maintain rates, especially after the storms, the hurricanes,” Councilmember Lisset Hanewicz said, according to the St. Pete Catalyst.
The stormwater hike is smaller than expected. Staff had predicted a 15% jump before whittling the proposal down to 8.5%.
The city has hundreds of millions of dollars in utility work lined up over the coming years, including water and wastewater pipes.
Starting in FY27, the city will switch to using 30% cash and 70% borrowed money to pay for projects. This changes the old plan that split costs down the middle. The cash portion is slated to climb five percentage points each year until it hits 50% again in FY31.
Council boosted the wastewater capacity fee charged for new hookups from $1,000 to $1,700. The fee, once known as the water closet fee, had risen from $600 to $1,000 in FY26.
Floyd has pressed officials to rethink how much of the utility system’s costs should land on current customers versus new construction. He’s also suggested cutting Payment in Lieu of Taxes transfers from utility funds into the general fund.
Voters will weigh in on a separate $600 million general obligation bond referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot. If it passes, the bonds would get repaid through property taxes instead of utility prices and would supply money for infrastructure projects outside current plans.
The new prices will start being used to figure out bills Nov. 1 for water consumed during the month before.