{"id":365817,"date":"2026-08-08T01:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/365817\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:24:10","slug":"city-of-st-pete-considers-raising-utility-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/365817\/","title":{"rendered":"City of St. Pete considers raising utility rates"},"content":{"rendered":"

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 St. Pete residents could see their water bills increase in October.<\/p>\n

St. Pete City Council is considering raising utility rates by roughly 7%.<\/p>\n

WATCH: City of St. Pete considers raising utility rates<\/p>\n

City of St. Pete considers raising utility rates<\/p>\n

City leaders said the increase is needed to keep up with inflation and to help fund storm resiliency projects.<\/p>\n

“You have people who have lived here their entire lives, and they are struggling to live here now because all of our costs are going up,” said Domenico Pontoriero.<\/p>\n

Pontoriero is one of many people in St. Pete who have been receiving high water bills.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard for people to keep up with all of these costs, and the utility bill is high,” said Pontoriero.<\/p>\n

He showed his water bills from years ago.<\/p>\n

“About five years ago my utility bill was about $100 bucks, and since then it’s doubled, so it’s a lot, especially since everything else has gone up as well, so it’s a strain,” said Pontoriero.<\/p>\n

Residents said they have had to make some adjustments to their everyday lives to keep up with rising water and energy bills.<\/p>\n

“I’ve dropped other costs, like I don’t have my pest control anymore, I’ve removed subscriptions, but I can\u2019t get rid of my utility bill,” said Pontoriero.<\/p>\n

But soon it could get even more difficult.<\/p>\n

“Nobody wants to pay more for that stuff if it can\u2019t be reasonably justified,” said Wayne Schrader.<\/p>\n

St. Pete City Council is considering raising utility rates by roughly 7%.<\/p>\n

“I understand the need to keep pace with inflation, and there are certain financial realities,” said Schrader.<\/p>\n

The city brought up the potential rate increase at a city council meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n

City leaders are now reviewing water, reclaim, wastewater, and stormwater costs.<\/p>\n

“Well, I know it\u2019s complicated. Like I know that there are costs involved and there are increasing costs involved in these services,” said Pontoriero.<\/p>\n

The changes could take effect as soon as October 1, and the city will hold a public hearing about the rate changes on August 27.<\/p>\n

Homeowners said they would like to see other options before moving forward with the rate increase.<\/p>\n

“I understand it\u2019s complex, like I understand why the utility rates are increasing, but I really wish our city could find more creative solutions to come up with the money,” said Pontoriero.<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Casey

Casey Albritton is dedicated to telling your stories throughout South Pinellas County. From St. Petersburg to Largo, she\u2019s there to share the triumphs and struggles of the community she calls home. So, let Casey know about the stories that matter to you.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Catching Rays with Victor Mesa Jr.<\/p>\n

Sports anchor Kyle Burger and Victor Mesa Jr. had \u201cCatching Rays\u201d conversation about Mesa Jr.\u2019s Cuban roots, his famous father, and how he brings the good vibes to the Rays clubhouse.<\/p>\n

Catching Rays with Victor Mesa Jr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 St. Pete residents could see their water bills increase in October. St. Pete City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[5238,596,107032,202,204,203,199,201,200,5910,3670,59693,117423,208],"class_list":["post-365817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-bill","tag-pinellas-county","tag-pinellas-news","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-28","tag-tampa-bay-local-news","tag-utility-rates","tag-water-rates","tag-wfts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365817","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=365817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}