The Lakeland City Commission on Monday will consider a 60 percent increase in its stormwater fee over the next four years to deal with the increased costs of complying with federal pollution regulations to fund pollution-control projects to aid lakes within the city.
It will be worth noting whether any other local jurisdiction with substantial lake-improvement needs—primarily Winter Haven and Polk County—will consider any increases as they consider next year’s budget.
The only tax increase that has been discussed so far for the County Commission involves plans to fund the backlog of growth-related road projects that were unfunded during the impact fee moratorium.
The Ledger reports there are plans to fund preliminary work on the widening of Lake Wilson Road and a portion of Cypress Parkway around Solivita, an upscale community adjacent to Poinciana by diverting $30 million from a fund that was supposed to provide the county’s share of the cost of building the second phase of the Bartow Northern Connector, a truck bypass around Bartow for which Polk had finally obtained funding in next year’s state budget and which escaped Gov. Rick Scott’s veto pen.
There have been no reports so far of any plans by Winter Haven officials to increase the city’s stormwater fee.