St. Pete Beach Mayor Adrian Petrilawants to toll tourists driving into St. Pete Beachto help the city pay for what he says are$200 millionin infrastructure needs.

Hurricanes Milton and Helene made it clear that St. Pete Beach is lagging behind on stormwater and sewer system fixes, reclaimed water system improvements and other upgrades, Petrila said at a City Commission meeting Monday.

“We can talk about failures and neglect of the past, and those all might be valid points, but I think it is better for us not to fixate on the past but rather to look at how we can address those problems today,” Petrila said, noting the $200 million need is daunting for the small city.

“For many of these things, the needs are immediate,” Petrila said.

An exact toll amount was not discussed, but Petrila estimated that a $1 toll on tourist drivers at all three of St. Pete Beach’s access points would bring in an additional $11 million in annual revenue.

The mayor said residents, business owners and employees would not be subject to the toll. But details of how that would be determined were not discussed Monday.

Citing numbers from the Florida Department of Transportation, Petrila said that the access points see roughly 60,000 daily trips to a city with less than 9,000 residents.

Adding a tourist toll would be a fair way for visitors to help fund the roads and other infrastructure they place a strain on, Petrila said.

The mayor touted the ideaas a solution that does not raise taxes on residents, and Commissioner Lisa Robinson said a similar toll proved beneficial to her hometown of Treasure Island.

But Vice Mayor Karen Marriott said sheworries the toll would hurt local businesses.

“I would hate to see us do something that, under the guise of not raising taxes on the residents, completely crushes our business community,” Marriott said.

In Sanibel Island, which Petrila cited as a possible model to follow, the toll is $6 for cars equippedwith an appropriate transponder, and $9 for those thatare not.

“That puts an end to most of the businesses on St. Pete Beach,” Marriottsaid. “As much our residents don’t want their taxes raised, I think they also all don’t want to have to drive off the island for every service.”