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Indian Rocks Beach rate increase vote postponed
By HARLAN WEIKLE
Article published on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 |
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH – The cost of garbage collection and sewage in Indian Rocks Beach might be going up.
Then again it might not.
According to some speakers at Tuesday night’s City Commission meeting, a big surprise came in the form of a blue postcard informing them that a public hearing and vote on raising their utility bills by 30 percent for solid waste and 20 percent for sewage were to take place Tuesday night. The postcard, which arrived a week earlier, was sent to residents because the county failed to include the usual public notice of a pending rate increase with its May utility bill.
That fact struck a chord with citizens like Patti Muneio who said, “The rush to approve this ordinance is clearly illegal given that we (the public) only found out about it last week.”
City Attorney Maura Kiefer who, before the final vote could be called, suggested that the ordinance be tabled until June 10, said, “I’ve never seen anything like this (referring to the blue post card) and I’d like to recommend we take the time to ensure it meets the standard for public notification.”
Kiefer said that if the public hearing was held over she would be able to research the matter and render a legal opinion and extending the wait time would not delay the implementation of the increases, which at any rate would go into effect with the August billing period.
Commissioner Bert Valery suggested that because the meeting turnout was high and public comment had already begun the commission should proceed with its vote and let the attorney render her legal opinion on June 10 at which time the decision could be made to re-notify the public and hold another public hearing or simply let stand the earlier vote.
The commission seemed to agree with Valery’s suggestion before hearing several more comments from the audience, including one citizen who asked what the commission would do when they had turned the city into a “ghost town” where no one could any longer afford to live.
When Mayor R.B. Johnson asked for the motion there followed only silence.
“I sense that no motion is the result of the commission making sure the notification is in compliance, do I hear a motion to continue the hearing until the 10th?” Johnson asked.
The motion was made and passed. Both solid waste and sanitary sewer rate hikes will be addressed at the next scheduled commission meeting on Tuesday, June 10.
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Article published on Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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