{"id":445836,"date":"2026-11-03T05:38:37","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/445836\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T05:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:38:37","slug":"tampa-eyes-9-water-sewer-rate-increase-as-new-state-law-threatens-28m-in-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/445836\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa eyes 9% water, sewer rate increase as new state law threatens $28M in revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Without revised rates, Tampa could lose about $28M annually under a new state law ending water and sewer surcharges outside city limits.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tampa residents could see a 9% increase in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampa.gov\/utilities\/rates-deposits-and-fees\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">water and wastewater rates<\/a> next summer under a proposal heading to the City Council on Thursday, while customers outside city limits would see their rates fall.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The proposed changes come as Tampa risks\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tampagov.hylandcloud.com\/251agendaonline\/Documents\/DownloadFileBytes\/WATER%20AND%20WASTEWATER%20EXTRATERRITORIAL%20SURCHARGE%20COUNCIL%20MEETING.PPTX.pdf?documentType=1&amp;meetingId=2938&amp;itemId=28233&amp;publishId=217328&amp;isSection=False&amp;isAttachment=True\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">losing about $28 million<\/a> in annual revenue under a new state law eliminating the city\u2019s 25% surcharge on water and wastewater services provided to customers outside municipal boundaries.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2026\/1451\/ByCategory\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">HB 1451<\/a>, which was passed and signed earlier this year, takes effect July 1, 2027. It prohibits Tampa from continuing to charge customers outside city limits an additional 25% for water and sewer services. To offset the lost revenue, Tampa is proposing a 9% increase in water and sewer usage rates for city residents, while customers outside city limits would see their rates fall by roughly 16%.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The proposal would also make fixed monthly charges the same for customers inside and outside city limits.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For a household using about 6,000 gallons of water a month, the city estimates the combined water and wastewater bill would increase by about $5.50, from about $78 to about $84 per month.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flapartners.com\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Floridian-Partners-Ad-1_728x90.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-283055\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">City officials estimate that without the revised rates, Tampa would lose about $16 million in annual water revenue and another $12 million in wastewater revenue. The losses could also complicate plans to finance water and sewer infrastructure projects in late 2027, according to a presentation prepared for the Council.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">City officials have considered other options, including deferring projects and adjusting how infrastructure improvements are financed. The city is also updating its water and wastewater master plans, with plans to revisit long-term rates around Fiscal Years 2029 and 2030.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Council will consider three related resolutions Thursday addressing water rates, wastewater charges and connection fees. If approved, the revised rates would take effect July 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Without revised rates, Tampa could lose about $28M annually under a new state law ending water and sewer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[128690,173517,5756,135,610,137,136,59693,173518,149980,117423],"class_list":["post-445836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-hb-1451","tag-house-bill-1451","tag-jane-castor","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-city-council","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-utility-rates","tag-wastewater-rates","tag-water-and-sewer","tag-water-rates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445836","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=445836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}