APOPKA, Fla. \u2014 Apopka residents will pay higher utility rates starting Oct. 1 after the Apopka City Council unanimously approved increases for water, wastewater, reclaimed water and sanitation services Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The council passed two ordinances establishing the new rates. The changes include a 6% increase for water, wastewater and reclaimed water services and a 6.5% sanitation rate increase through 2029.<\/p>\n
Three residents spoke during public comment, raising concerns about the impact on people living on fixed incomes.<\/p>\n
“Six percent is over the top for many communities. And it’s because we didn’t plan properly,\u201d Apopka resident Rod Olsen said.<\/p>\n
According to the city\u2019s finance department, the utility fund was not generating enough revenue in 2022 to support ongoing operations and needed improvements, therefore they conducted a rate study in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese rate studies were established about a year and a half ago now. So we kind of knew this was coming already,\u201d Apopka Mayor Nick Nesta said. \u201cAnd there’s certain projects we need to get done. As you’ve heard, residents are frustrated with their water quality, their water pressure and these projects that we need to get done, they cost money. And unfortunately, these rate increases will pay for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
City officials said the rate increases will help fund infrastructure projects, cover operations and build reserves.<\/p>\n
Nesta said one of the biggest issues facing the city is moving water around Apopka.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have major projects that are needing to come online that have been delayed for years and years, and those delays have cost us more money year over year,\u201d Nesta said. \u201cOne perfect one is the Golden Gem Pond. That one was originally supposed to be back in 2022 or 2023, about $4.5 million. It’s now $12.5 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nesta said that once pending projects are completed, the city will work to bring rates down in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I’m looking to do is find as many efficiencies as possible throughout all of our operations. So, I’m going to continue to refine our processes to try to bring these rates back down, because I’m not immune to what residents are paying,” Nesta said.<\/p>\n
The new rates will go into effect next month, on Oct. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APOPKA, Fla. \u2014 Apopka residents will pay higher utility rates starting Oct. 1 after the Apopka City Council…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[766,115,1335,139,141,140,835],"class_list":["post-388803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-massiel-leyva","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388803","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=388803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}