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ECUA Raises Water And Sewer Rates; Garbage Rates Are Next
September 28, 2018
The Emerald Coast Utilities Authority board voted to raise rates for water and sewer customers Thursday, and they took the first step toward a sanitation rate increase.
Water and Sewer Rate Increase
ECUA water and sewer rates will increase by 4 percent effective Monday. That translates to $1.02 per month for the average water customer consuming 6,000 gallons per month. The proposed increase of four percent would equate to an increase of $1.31 per month at the average 4,600 gallons level of sewer usage. The current average ECUA user pays $26.58 for water and $32.93 for sewage.
Sanitation Rate Increase
On a motion by District 5 representative Larry Walker, the ECUA board reversed course on a sanitation rate increase. They voted against such a raise in July, but after learning sanitation reserves are depleted the board voted 3-2 to raise garbage collection rates by 5 percent and add a $1.50 per month capital improvement fee to each customer’s bill. That will raise a residential customer’s sanitation bill by 87 cents, plus the $1.50 fee, for a total monthly cost of $24.75, while the average commercial customers will see a $3.42 increase, plus the $1.50 capital improvement fee.
The capital improvement fee will be used in a plan to replace 10 aging collection trucks per year over the next eight years.
ECUA does offer a reduced senior citizens lifeline rates for garbage collection in a smaller 40-gallon container. The program’s $10.66 monthly cost will increase to $12.50 per month with the rate hike.
The sanitation rate increase will heard back to the board for a public hearing and final vote on October 25.
Both rate increase proposals passed on a 3-2 vote, with Dale Perkins and Vicki Campbell casting the dissenting votes.
Comments
37 Responses to “ECUA Raises Water And Sewer Rates; Garbage Rates Are Next”
@William I so agree let them ride the bus we are paying 4 Cent a gallon on gas tax we didnt vote dor so a company in Germany can get new busses for the 10 people who do ride them
I do not drink their CAPPY WATER. I have myself a well which is so much better. After you see those ECUA workers that maintain those water tanks, they all are wearing those white suits you see people wear around hazardous materials and they have this mask on as well. IF they need to protect themselves like that why in the world would they want to dump that POISON into the water system you all drink. STUPID !!! They made me hook up to their sewage system even though I have a commercial type septic tank and they charge me an ARM / LEG / and a KIDNEY for their sewage / garbage pickup. The bill comes to $69.98 per month and that is without their water. People who have a well are getting ripped off. What I do to get my monies worth …. I run my faucets in the bath tub and my sinks and help fill up their sewage and then I feel better about them charging me that much. Now it appears I will be spending more $$$$ so I will be dumping that much more water into their sewer
Mr. Walker is (was?) an employee of the University of West Florida. He lives south of Nine Mile Road. It was important for him to move the district line south of Nine Mile Road, in his little neighborhood, so he would be in District 5, which would place him in the areas encompassing UWF, Scenic Hills, and the developing sub-divisions north of Nine Mile Road. The “perfesser” ain’t no fool. C’mon people, let’s vote.
Years ago District 5 Kommisar (Walker,) with the help of a neighbor County Commissioner, gerrymanded their sub-division into their district. The only time he is nice is when he’s running for Re-election. Even so, being his neighbor, yard clippings pick-up, neat and orderly contained is often iffy.
thank you for the increase. may I have another one please. I will soon get an increase in my ss check so I can afford it.
I know, stop letting ecua workers drive company vehicles home, make them drive their own vehicles or take the Bus like everyone else in the county does when they go to work.
Why hasn’t the grand jury report been released? We the people have the right to know when we are being lied to and stolen from.
Our esteemed ECUA board members (Walker) are always eager to point out that the drastic rate difference between Santa Rosa and Escambia is because of the “tipping fees”, or as we all would say, the cost of dumping garbage at the landfill. The difference between Santa Rosa’s and Escambia’s tipping fees is; Escambia $46.00,Santa Rosa $36.00 per ton. According to the ECUA board, we in Escambia each have to pay $7.00 extra a month to make up for this $10.00 a ton difference. How many of these green cans do they pick up to make a ton? I’d guess 40 or so. What ECUA did in Santa Rosa was underbid and put several private companies out of business in an attempt to create their own monopoly, and the voters that elect them are subsidizing this folly. .
>>The ECUA is NOT government owned, and is NOT part of the county
Yes, and no.
It is not part of the county. But it is its own separate government entity created by the Florida Legislature.
So SR north end is supporting a neighboring county’s governmental coffers? Without representation on ECUA board? That smacks of taxation without representation. When ECUA took over sanitation for SR north end, from private companies, I asked very pointed questions of our BOCC……and there was clearly apathy and lack of meaningful response. And such is the state of many governmental entities. Sad
The ECUA is NOT government owned, and is NOT part of the county. Just ask your friendly county commissioner.
Time for the County to take over I suppose.
It’s important to understand that the ECUA is a government owned and controlled agency that is non-profit, and has no stockholders expecting a return on investment. All of its revenues go towards operating expenses and future projects, so the only way for it to control costs is to reduce services and/or defer improvements. I don’t like rate increases either, but I don’t want them to shortchange and/or overwork their employees, nor do I want them to recklessly neglect the future. While it might make people feel better to vote out ECUA’s politically elected directors, that really won’t preclude the circumstances that are causing rate increases, and it won’t make our services any better. The best strategy we can pursue as consumers is to ensure that we follow the rules and don’t make their jobs any more difficult than they need to be, and conserve resources as much as possible.
I live alone off Olive Road and wanted to not use ECUA because I barely have 1 bag of garbage a week. I was told IF I didn’t use their services I would be fined $1000 ! WTH?! So, yeah we don’t have a choice to use them or not.
And I have the same problem someone else mentioned….they may come on Friday or they may come on Wednesday…or they may not come at all, but they still want me to pay for their horrible service. They need some competition around here, maybe that would help what service we are given.
I understand if the landfill rate goes up there is a hike… Fuel rates go up .. need to replace fleet… Etc . But the so called “weekly” large trash and green waste pick up is NOT living up to expectations. One of the trucks might come and pick thru, green or big waste, and leave a mess in the yard or in the street that customets have to straighten on the side of the road so we don’t get ticketed by county environmental. And this occurrs even when the operators dismount and manually load the truck. The office phone operator argues with me and tells me they came even when I offer to email or drive down and show them a pic of today’s pile…. But then Im considered a threat because I said I’d come to the office and prove my point. Currently 2+ weeks waiting to pickup large cardboard shipping boxes broken down flat and two 4 foot x 1ft rolls of carpet. (Yes, I measured) The cardboard has been sitting there so long in the rain, today its starting to disintegrate causing a new problem. But ECUA still swears green waste came so they fulfilled their requirement for the week since green waste drove down my street and did nothing for me. Let’s get real truthfulI here… its not a weekly service… try 3+ weeks only after I call 2 weeks in a row to complain my trash isn’t picked up. I can’t call on behalf of the other neighbors piles on the street (per ECUA operator) but county environmental department can call ECUA on our behalf! And they have! They behave for 2-3 weeks then same problem starts again. I’d love to see them fix that or even post on North Escambia that a truck was broke down this week and they’ll be late in some areas this week — we might not like it but we’d understand and appreciate the communication. I know it’s not an easy job at times, but Just TRY! Do the best you can do each day.
Yes, vote some of these people out. When they start getting close to my “up in old age”, it’s time to go. I could use the senior services, but the can is smaller. Another neighbor of mine has a large family, and they use my can too. Okay with me. No sense in throwing money away on trash.
I don’t buck the system too bad. We do get storm debris pickup anytime, bulk pickup per week, and one lousy trash pickup per week. I say lousy because they set the cans down turned over or the lids open to rain in and leave some trash for next time. Three trucks come out – trash, recycle and yard debris. I don’t use storm and bulk pickup. If you go to the landfill, it will cost you more money than the weekly pickup. Plus I know people that have gotten nails in their tires. It’s not the best kept parking lot.
Discussing ECUA employees on the job. Can those drivers move any faster than 10 miles per hour below the speed limit ? No one is in a hurry to get the job done, and costs the company money and passed on to us. Stay off the Interstate if you can’t do at least 50 mph. You’re causing traffic to pileup. It’s ridiculous. All of you appear to be lazy and sucking money out of the company to make 8+ hours.
Santa Rosa gets twice per week? Amazing.
ecua services for santa rosa reisidents:
http://www.ecua.fl.gov/santa-rosa
yard trash sevice included
bulk waste service by customer request
ECUA has so much going on – it makes you wonder where this increase will really go
They have water, sewage & garbage — (I thought that was all they did)
but how much will go to the Recycle Center?
How much goes to the proposed Industrial Complex next to the sewage plant ?
90% of land on Becks Lake Rd has ECUA NO TRESPASSING signs —
Is this land paid for or are we still paying the mortgage ?
Did money saved from cutting back to 1 garbage pickup/week help buy it ?
Is this in the Grand Jury report ???????
What else is ECUA into we don’t know about ??????
Why don’t they get out of the real estate business & lower our rates ???????
The board is not to blame, we are! For walker to be on the board this long is due to us.
MOBILIZE AND HELP GET THEM OUT.
District 1’s extensive retort is filled with incorrect information. She is Misinformed because she only states what the staff feeds her. SHE DOES NOT VALIDATE.
Perdido landfill fees have actually decreases over the last two weeks.
Vote them out. These increases are bs. Check their/ECUA pay raises
Eff off ECUA scammers.
Vickie Campbell – ECUA District 1 – penned a reply posted to the Escambia Citizen Watch FB page regarding sanitation services and their cost for Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. It explained the differences in each services and the expense related cost to provide the different services. Each County is a stand alone product – ie: neither county subsidizes the other. The larger cost in Escambia for only once a week pickup deals largely with the cost of disposal at the Perdido Landfill versus the cost which are charged in Santa Rosa. Additionally, in Escambia County, ECUA is required to pick up all storm related debris while in Santa Rosa this is not a requirement. Escambia offers a lifeline rate for elderly on limited incomes, and this rate is subsidies by all ratepayers within the county. Santa Rosa does not offer a discounted rate. Lastly in Escambia there is weekly pickup of large items and yard waste. This isnt the case in Santa Rosa, These two items cost more to provide on a weekly basis and therefore drive up the monthly rate charged in Escambia.
For those with FB you can find the information at this link:
https://www.facebook.com/VickiCampbellForEcua/posts/2170276376380326
Her post exceeds the 300 word limitation imposed by NorthEscambia and as such I am unable to post it verbatim in this comment. However, I found the information to be well worth the read to explain the rates in each county differ so much.
I don’t think we are required to use ECUA’s sanitation service ! Couldn’t we burn
in a barrel? How about drive the garbage/trash to the landfill? Or just get-up at
say 2 am and put it in neighbors can ? ( I’ve seen it done ). Living out in the country
with debris pick-up, recycling can and garbage can once per week is a good system
for me and @ $6 per week it ain’t bad. What’s bad is the $175 cable TV and only
watch maybe 15 channels but pay for 250….now that’ll tighten your jaws ! ha
Larry Walker OUT!!!!!!! u greedy pig OUT!!! who pit these folks in these positions
Really how y’all gone raise anything when your service SUCKS!!
do yall money hungre son of frauds think of anybody beside yourself?? Im a single mom i have kids to tk care of n also other bills. Just because yall to cheap to buy trucks for your own company with the billions of $’s u make a day dont mean tk my bill up because your orderd to keep up with maintenance.. So in order for it not to hurt your pockets by losing a couple thousands of dollars u charge each of us a extra 1.50 +3.50 we already pay who ever is over this n. Thought this was a good idea should be in jail…we need a vote from the ppl who money they getting rich off to mk “PEOPLE WATERs” the official water of pensacola/Escambia county n surrounding areas
It’s amazing how you keep raising rates, but the service is still crappy. The customer service ladies have attitudes when you call, the sanitation guys do a half ass job picking up the trash and yet you guys want me to give you more of my money. Sucks because we really have no other options for service. ECUA wins no matter what
Give ‘ol Larry Walker a call, vent your frustration over the 20% in fees that our bill has become. He will then spin a tale of woe and heartache as he describes the poor state of affairs over on blue angel with a failing sewer main, or of the aging vehicles they are forced to drive. These fees and capital improvements he will say, are necessary to simply maintain our infrastructure, and they will be going nowhere in our lifetime. This is from the old guys mouth, they are here to stay and now they are adding more.
Hopefully they improve service with the increase of sanitation….gets old having to call everyday because they didn’t pick up our trash or recycle repeatedly! Or maybe have the option of deducting from the bill for weeks missed!
INCREASE!?HOW ABOUT A DECREASE IN THEIR EMPLOYEES…. I’ve seen 5-8 standing while two are working at many of my former job sites. Turned water back on at a house we foreclosed on and got an$85 bill for 85gallons of use to clean house. They forgot to tell me about all the other fees….
Our garbage pick up has been missed many times over the passed several months. It’s getting to the point where just paying your bill isn’t good enough to have the service provided. You have to hold their hand and give them a call too. I sure would hate to pay more.
It’s time to vote Larry Walker off of the board.
I know some that work there, they ride around in the smaller company trucks doing absolutely nothing. Larry Walker has been there too long, vote him out.
Governmental agency with fee and taxing authority is like your neighborhood crack addict. Once they’re hooked, in this case on your money, it’s more, more, more!
Remember, it is your responsibility to vote responsibly for those who run these agencies, and district 5 Walker has turned into a full blown socialist democrat.
It would be reasonable/different if we, the customer “actually” saw some form of improvements in the sewer, water and garbage services…. maybe a few do. JS. BTW…. Those nice late model trucks that some of you drive home after hours need to run the speed limit….. Especially when you are all on the dimes of the customers. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
I wouldn’t have a problem with a rate increase if ECUA was providing the service they agreed to provide. Because we live in a rural area we receive half the service that other areas receive but our rate isn’t reduced. Our garbage is picked up once per week. Other areas (including customers in Santa Rosa County) have pickup twice per week. I understand it costs more to provide service in rural areas but even at that, in the past few months our service has been missed completely on at least 5 occassions. That’s just unacceptable.
You know, they will have to go up on garbage in Escambia County to make up for the subsidy we are providing to Santa Rosa residents. After all, we are providing twice the service in Santa Rosa for considerably less money than the ECUA board charges the Escambia County residents that elect them.
Instead of increasing sanitation rate cost, why not cut operational cost? ECUA could start with reducing the twice a week collection to once a week in Santa Rosa County. As for the senior lifetime rate mentioned, when I contacted ECUA about the program, I was told it was no longer available but I could get a smaller container for $17 and some change. Down from $22, a $5 savings and I didn’t have to struggle with the big container with barely one third full. One company, two county’s, different rates per county. Are the citizens of one county going to subsidize services of another county? Reminds me of a 4 cent per gallon of gas tax to ‘save ECAT’ and first upgrade made was WIFI systems were installed.
Release the grand jury report! Maybe it will shed some light on why our rates keep rising.
The ECUA board sure loves those “capital improvement fees”.
With the implementation of the CIF for garbage I now pay an extra $8.50 per month for the privilege of being an ECUA customer. Its not like I have much of a choice since ECUA service is a mandatory requirement…… uuugghhhh!