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ECUA Approves Water, Sewer And Sanitation Rate Increase, Plus Extra Sanitation Fee
September 28, 2022
The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) on Tuesday formally approved rate increase for sanitation, water and wastewater services, plus an additional sanitation fee that will all go into effect on October 1.
Sanitation Rate Increase And Fee
ECUA approved a sanitation (garbage) rate increase of 6% plus the addition of a $1 per month fee to fund the construction of a new sanitation transfer station on Pine Forest Road. Customers will continue to pay the $1 per month until the transfer station is paid off, which is currently projected to be in 2043.
ECUA Executive Director Bruce Woody said Tuesday that ECUA customers may not be completely on the hook for the cost of the transfer station. He said ECUA will ask the local state legislative delegation to seek a $3 million appropriation toward the total cost that would eliminate several years of the $1 per month fee payment for customers. Exact calculations on the cost are not yet complete.
The rate increase applies to the collection fee. For the average family with one 90-gallon container, the monthly rate will increase from $26.39 to $27.67, plus the $1 fee for the transfer station. The transfer station location is the current ECUA complex at Godwin Lane and Pine Forest Road.
The motion approving the sanitation rate increase and the $1 fee passed 4-0 with board member Louis Benson absent.
Proposed Water And Wastewater Rate Increase
The ECUA board also approved a 5% rate increase for water and wastewater. For an average customer using 6,000 gallons, the increase will be less than $1 per month for water and about $2 for wastewater.
The rate increase for water and wastewater passed 4-0 with board member Louis Benson absent.
Comments
26 Responses to “ECUA Approves Water, Sewer And Sanitation Rate Increase, Plus Extra Sanitation Fee”
Increased, OK. But more than DOUBLED?! As in 115% increase? Even after they admitted their recycling program had failed so miserably it was simply canceled?
Not buying it
It’s so very heartbreaking that our governments around the country are even considering raises rates on anything right now. It’s like kicking ya when u r already down. For years they have collected monthly fees and most have been so mismanaged , they never put any of it away for times like this. We have all been taught to save for hard times. Yet when you do they ( they government/utility co.) just take take take. I for one am seriously considering going back to candle, firewood, horse n buggy just to screw them. But then they would pass laws to ban that because they would loose money if a bunch of us did it.
There should be no increase, refund the people for the subpar work ECUA workers provide in general. Did you know that when they broke a class cupboard in my neighborhood when loading it, they were completely fine with leaving broken glass all over our street and when confronted a few doors down at a neighbors house the man said “garbage isn’t my job” yet he was driving a garbage truck? Hmm, then when a manager was sent to “clean it up” he didn’t bring a broom! Then when another manager showed up to “clean it up” the right way his broom didn’t have a handle! Maybe the increase should.go toward brooms for the garbage men. They seem to have a lot of trouble getting it into the trucks, its always blowing around the streets after pick.
How convenient Lois Benson wasn’t there to vote. This is the second time she avoided voting for this increase.
Humm… what could it be?
Oh… in her last campaign she promised she would not raise fees… well, she didn’t lift a finger to stop it either.
Too bad all the meetings are smack dab in the middle of the day when working folks can’t attend and demand accountability.
I am angry. Of course we need to be grateful. This boars seems to be a “approval stamp” for ECUA. I would like to see competition (which always causes priced and those extra fees to go down. The people who over see our country have an obligation to work hard to reduce the cost to consumers, not ASSUME, those consumers can afford the extra expense. I will always insist that government look for ways to “reduce” the cost to consumers. Knowing how little the land fill charges to drop off your household trash. compared to what Pensacola and Escambia county pays to dump, increasing fees is the last thing leadership should be at this time. Where is the integrity with this board?
I am grateful to have water/sewer service. Thankful for my household garbage, recycling and yard debris being picked up. Nobody likes cost increases of any kind but it’s part of life. Thank you ECUA for what you do. Those workers are out there rain or shine. When it’s cold and when it’s hot. After hurricanes they work hours on end in a job many won’t consider doing. If ECUA doesn’t have the proper equipment/trucks it needs it can cause service to be delayed. I am retired and live modestly but I can look at my budget and cut back somewhere. Most people, not all, eat out or buy a specialty coffee that can be cut out to make up for the small amount that the ECUA is increasing the bill to. There are also plenty of part time jobs to be considered if my budget gets too tight. I choose to be grateful.l
Customers pay big money for this company to haul off their trash only for it to blow out of the top of their trucks all up and down our roadways.
I guess if I have to pay it I’ll pay it. The service is consistent I really have no complaints. It’s odd I don’t hear everybody complaining about the manipulated increase in fuel costs. Now that is something that is outrageous. And I’m talking about fuel as goes in a vehicle. Hummmmm.
Imagine that. Not only is my bill going to go up, but ECUA is going to get tax dollars
too. So what does our bills pay. Oh, huge salaries for the executives. How is this legal? Seriously?
here’s a list of wha’t’s going up in my budget each month–prescription supplement $14.00, groceries, homeowners insusrance $400 a year, property tax $100 a year, water service up 3% a month, house payment $$53.00 a month, medicare, prescription drugs, cable $17.00 a month, vet bills and supplies, ecua 6%, medical insurance supplement, and home alarm system $4.00 a month–this also does not include gasoline, maintenance on the house and other things. the feds say that medicare recipients are to get a 8% raise in january. Well this has already wiped out that and whatever they give us in the future. i pray that someone will come to their senses and remember that people are living on fixed incomes. just keep praying.
Well guess nobody has noticed everything has gone up? Unfortunately we all have to take it. Nobody likes to pay more for service but it happens. Far as fleet goes we get trucks every 12-14 years pretty sure you get one sooner than that. Very few trucks are taken home i know after 18 years i have yet to bring one home. Maybe do some homework and ask people who work there not assume
don’t ECUA and FPL know is making
the person living on a fix income out of extra money??????
that WE have cut back on so many
ideas.
That they are running us out a the ability
to pay those extra charges they keep
piling on us ????????????
They are building a waste empire on the backs of the customers. What is their annual budget? Who approved the expansion and the rate increase. The bureaucracy of the city and county governments are wasteful and have no oversight. Federal tax, county tax, property tax, car registration increase, fee increases everywhere…for what. Watch these people work; 5 people to do the work of one. Damage equipment, lackadaisical work ethics, and rude. We pay for all of this! There needs to be competition on these municipal cash cows.
I’ve driven to the landfill to get rid of a few loads of stuff. It’s time consuming and a pain in the butt not to mention driving out there costs money. Water and sewer going up also. So is everything else as it always has and always will. Thank you ECUA for your good service.
Years ago had a 90+ year old neighbor, lived alone and only social security income.
Produced about a “T-Shirt” bag of trash and garbage each week.
Told him he could use my can and I’d call ECUA to stop his pickups.
Called ECUA and was told that he couldn’t stop service and if he put bag into my can they’d fine me. If he quit paying the service they’d put a lein on his property.
Hard to tell him all of that.
There is more than one way to get rid of your garbage, I’m done paying them ,I will do it myself..
I would cancel my service if I could. Unfortunately I live in the mandatory zone. Isn’t that called a monopoly?
I have a nice burn barrel. Guess I’ll get it going again. And save my recyclables to take in and get money for it, instead of giving it to them to get the money for it. I live on a fixed income. It’s about time we the people start standing up to these people and the only way to do it, is find a way, like I have, to cut their service out of our lives. Wonder how long they would last if, say, 60% of the people stop their service.
Approved and put in service within 5 days. Not much time fo me to cancel my seevice and build my firepit…
ECUA ,HOW MUCH IS A TRANSFER STATION ON YOUR OWN PROPERTY!!!
Poorly managed organization, if this was a private company it would be bankrupt. ECUA really needs some experts to come in and look at their lack of efficiency it is a joke. If this organization was run properly it would be very profitable and would have to raise rates to cover their inability manage
how do they expect us to live????????????????????
just remember at election time. my nieghbors and I are looking into getting a dumpster,
35.00 every time you call them to dump
The employees must need a new fleet of F450’s to drive home each night on the customers dime…..
So much waste, fraud and abuse….. yeah, I know…. not just words
ECUA increase…FPL increase after increase…Everyone wondering if there is a recession and what we can do to avoid it…Increase after Increase after Increase is not the answer. Give the common man a break!
VOTE ECUA OUT
They approve their own increases? If they build a transfer station, that alone will save them time and fuel. Why increase prices if your saving money? I can already see that transfer station on fire burning and every truck going with it.
Back to burning my garbage in a pit out in the field.