LONGWOOD, Fla. \u2014 After weeks of feedback from residents, proposed water and wastewater rate hikes were removed from a proposed ordinance passed unanimously Monday by the Longwood City Commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rate hikes followed a study completed by a consulting firm and would have increased residents\u2019 bills by more than 130% by 2029. During Monday\u2019s City Commission meeting, officials voted on an amended ordinance that removed the proposed increases from the ordinance but left intact other changes to the regulation of water and wastewater in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe removal of these proposed rate adjustments will allow staff additional time to continue to evaluate the city’s long-term financial strategy for future water utility infrastructure needs, including water treatment plant improvements,\u201d said Longwood City Manager Will Watts.<\/p>\n
Despite the rate increases being removed from the ordinance, several residents still voiced their concerns to commissioners about how the proposed rate increases could affect them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t want to be forced out because I just can’t afford it anymore,\u201d Longwood resident Jo Anne Rebello said. \u201cI mean, it to increase the water rates as it was proposed more than double, and we’re getting hit every which way. It\u2019s just it’s unfathomable because my income is the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shawn Martin, who said he had lived in Longwood for more than a decade, was among those who spoke about the proposal. Martin said his water utility bill was between $57 and $80 from 2019 to 2021, but he now pays up to $350 monthly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we were to double it, that would take it to $700,” he said, adding that he believed it would be even more than that by 2029 if the rate increases are ultimately approved.<\/p>\n
Martin said he was glad the commission listened to residents and decided to look for other options.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Commissioners said they expected to continue discussing rate increases at a future public meeting after additional evaluation of the proposal and the city’s capital improvement needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONGWOOD, Fla. \u2014 After weeks of feedback from residents, proposed water and wastewater rate hikes were removed from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[274,14105,28,2287,115,139,141,140,99,1014,278],"class_list":["post-311599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-top-stories","tag-brandon-spencer","tag-florida","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-seminole-county","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}