City Council-Stormwater Mgmt. Utility Fee Public Hearing- pt.2 - Sep 14, 2026

Um, the second one is, I, I sat here, and if we did away with all the tiers, I think I have it as, to make your number, 22,000 single-family homes? We have a motion and a second.

Jennifer Andreu: yes · Timothy J. Fadgen: no · Louis Reinstein: no · Erik Anderson: yes · Denise Horland: yes

properties that are in those neighborhoods. I've been told that the stormwater assessment program is authorized under state law and I believe that the law requires that the fee be assessed based on a reasonable relationship between the fee and the properties that are being benefited. I can tell you that the CIP projects that are on the list will not have any reasonable benefit to my property and I think that they won't have a reasonable benefit for a majority of the properties in plantation because if you look at where the dots are they're all on the east part of the city. There is a mechanism that's available under state law. I think it's chapter 170 which is a special assessment which those properties that directly benefit from the improvements pay for the cost. The city would fund the improvements using a municipal bond and then the benefited property owners would pay the city back over a number of years. I know that's been done with sewer. I know it's been done with roads. I think Plantation Acres Improvement District is an example of a special assessment district that was created to build the drainage and the roads that are out there. Those properties benefited greatly from that. So I think that this would be a harder thing for staff to manage maybe but that's not a reason to tax everybody. The bottom line is is that only those properties that benefit directly from storm drainage improvements should bear the cost. I agree with that chart that had the yellow bars which were the maintenance operations. That is what Brett told me. It's the the extra stuff the capital stuff that's on the top of those things that I don't think you have any business funding with all the people's money. Only the people who benefit ought to be paying for that. I'll answer any questions if you'd like.

Okay. Thank you Mr. Heizenga. Mr. Wiggins? Gordon Wiggins, 1040 West Shopping Way. All right. I think they don't know that Coral Springs has an ERU so I'll just point that out. This tax started in 2013 I believe at $250. Is that is that correct? 2011-2012. Okay so now it's $450 and it's been that for a long time and now it's going to double. I see it as once you get these projects done you're still going to have the tax and if you don't use the money then I don't think that this is a good a good thing to do at all and I don't agree with the the tier system for a few reasons. Water is going to come down all over the place no matter what you do and I just don't see it as a fair system. It just seems like it's a made-up thing. I hate to say that you know out loud to the person that made it but that's the way I look at it. Water needs canal systems which we have. We've had them in place for 50 plus years. It needs pump and they need maintenance. It sounds like we're doing overkill with this. Like I know the city has worked on a lot of a lot of the systems that drained and it looks like it does a pretty good job in most places but that area specifically in Fort Lauderdale in the other side of the turnpike that does need it needs maintenance and and probably renovation but I just see this as a tax an ongoing tax year after year and if it's going to double now are you guys going to double it again next year or the year after it just doesn't seem good at all and I don't like that tier system I will say that again so I don't know if you guys would leave it the same and see if you can get it done and also there was nothing about what was in the budget. She said that they were able to use money not from the storm budget already on hand. They used something else so I don't know how much they use per year for that for you know the personnel or whatever they need it for but I think I would like to see that on that on that chart and it wasn't there so thank you.

Thank you very much. Mr. Neckor and then Mr. Ms. Bentley. John? Nope. Am I not pronouncing it a lot? I couldn't read it. Neckor is it? Neckor? I couldn't read your handwriting. I'm sorry but you're going to come up and tell us your last name.

Nelson. John Nelson. 190 Bryan Boulevard. I'm from Country Club Estates so I am one of the residents who did email the city engineer and the mayor. Excuse me. I had the opportunity to kind of move over you know the expenditures of the city. Why is the city holding on to a significant amount of assets that it can liquidate to help pay for capital improvement projects specifically the money hole the plantation preserve golf course which you are allocating a significant amount of capital over the next several years which you could just sell it for 50 to 100 million and use that to kind of fund your capital improvement projects and have some coffers. Secondly there's been a lot of commercial facilities going up down 441 around Country Club Estates did they contribute any kind of storm water mitigation during that construction and there's more city what was it Peters you guys purchased several parcels and then you didn't correct me if I'm wrong you did like a lease back or forgivable loan why didn't we sell those properties for a profit and use that money why are we pretty much giving away $400,000 there's other spending you guys can take a look at and instead of giving money away use it to actually fund capital improvement projects why are you funding projects of non permeable improvements such as artificial turf is that permeable yes or no it can be or can't be when you're doing the tiered system some homes where those measurements done correctly how is done is there a way to be done is there a way to rebut it if you don't feel it's accurate is that mechanism going to be available what's the turnaround time on that is that going to be through the city engineer or is it going to be done through the billing department okay so just some things to consider that golf course that is money money that could be used to benefit the public and I encourage you to explore that option sooner rather than later before you start charging the public more money

thank you mr. Nelson miss Bentley good evening Lisa Bentley plantation Florida I'm here tonight because I believe plantation owners deserve a stormwater system that works but they also deserve accountability transparency and fairness before being asked to pay a substantially more for years home workers have been paying roughly $55 a year per eru for stormwater we've been told those dollars would help maintain repair and improve our drainage systems and neighborhoods were built decades ago they haven't suddenly changed yet after years of paying this fee homeowners are now being asked to nearly double it in some cases with the tear system five times five fold $270 and homeowners don't pay an eru they pay a bill they're already dealing with higher insurance utilities groceries property taxes and home maintenance costs seniors are on fixed incomes and working families are feeling that pressure every day so before asking residents to pay dramatically more this council should have should have the obligation to show more compassion empathy and accountability to the residents and that starts with the simple question what did we get for the money we've already paid residents deserve to know how that money was used and why we're now being asked to pay substantially more more not before it is not against I'm not against fixing our canals drains and stormwater infrastructure I want them fix but we need to know that that money we are already paid has been spent wisely and efficiently we also need to address growth with more development and more rooftops planning in areas like midtown and gateway existing homeowners should not be expected to pay for the yesterday's deferred deferred maintenance and tomorrow's growth at the same time new developments should provide adequate stormwater capacity and pay for it that's also why I asked the council to consider the millage rollback greater than 5.7 homeowners need some relief from the growing financial burden being placed on them so I'm asking the council phase this increase fix the worst drainage problems first spend the money efficiently make new development pay for the next to pay its fair share because this isn't about whether plantation needs better stormwater infrastructure we do we need it it's whether residents can trust that their money is being managed responsibly approving this unreasonably high fee you are telling plantation owners that you don't care about financial burden the city has already placed on us we are not teller machines we are homeowners families seniors and working people We are not telling the world that we are in the same point we are not visiting know researchers that this year the city has been offered so we need to be building an inspiration for additional ministries to keep our longitudinal

and we are not telling them to accept as a small and as always.

We would send that information to our point of the city, and the city's emergency so we are not telling you about an spillway pay-to-day payment so we're going to go to the city management center we know that we can't do that anyió any question this is you want to address and you want to address anything but it seems to me the המ? 923 of the Municipal Code allow for any resident who would like to review their stormwater assessment. There is a criteria where they can communicate with the City Engineer Office. We will take a look at that property. Since the tiering system is a new system, I have been, as I said before, communicating with a handful of residents that approached me via email or called or sent any request. And we have been adjusting the property. But there is an appeal process that's already in place in the code that we can follow. Thank you for that. Council Member Andrea?

And Ms. Shallan, I don't remember if it was in one of our – this is our third presentation, so forgive me. I'm not sure if it was in one of these presentations or in our one-on-one meeting. But the residents in Lauderdale West, they would be in Tier 1, correct? Correct. So I just want – again, you know, we are talking about the seniors, which that's probably one of our biggest senior communities, so they would not see an increase. Correct. As a matter of fact, just pennies on the dollar, but it would be a slight, slight decrease for those residents.

And just for the record, it wasn't by design. It was just the footprint of the homes are smaller, so they ended up on Tier 1 with a half ERE. Correct.

Correct. That's why the tiering system in that case works. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Dre. Council Member Fadgen and then Anderson.

Thank you, Council President. Regarding the appeals process, are we – how quick of a process is that once someone wants to appeal what their – the tier that they're in?

Since we digitize all the properties, so the data is available. So I just want to give an example, and I see him in –

Well, I'm saying, like, how quickly is it? I want to go with a couple of –

Days. Just days. It takes days.

So of the people that have appealed, they've gone through the process and either have been denied or adjusted. How many of the appeals have been adjusted? There's been a –

I made three residents happier today.

Okay.

So how many have – how many people have appealed so far?

It's not appeal. I don't want to use the word appeal. A lot of –

Well, protested their – They didn't know. The tier that they're in.

They received the trim notices and their question – they questioned. Their question was why I'm receiving 270. A lot of the questions I received was after I educated the public about the tiering system and directed them to read the material on the website, they acknowledged, and that was adequate for them. However, there is a property, for example, she requested me to visit the site. After I visited the site, the entire backyard was lime rock. So from an aerial point of view, it looked like impervious, but on site it wasn't impervious, so it was adjusted. So to answer your question, three out of, like, let's say, 15 that I received.

Fifteen or 50?

Fifteen.

One five?

One five.

Okay. All right. Correct. A process will always be available to people.

Correct.

It's an adjustment, not an appeal, just for the adjustment.

Adjustment.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Council Member Anderson?

Could you address what resident Huizenga said about the assessing a neighborhood for direct capital improvement versus spreading it across the whole city?

I've got to give an example of the aisles, the plantation aisles. Between 2000 and 2002, there was a dredging project in the aisle. I don't have the details of the details, but that particular community was assessed based on stormwater assessment. And remember, in 2000, there was no stormwater fund. So that was the only mechanism at that point. The project, as I recall, and I wasn't in the city from the little information I can found on our files, was a couple of million dollars, and a mortgage was a couple of financing options. Actually, some people had defaulted on that program as we speak today. So there was the city used that mechanism one day. However, we're talking about Country Club Estate. Phase one of the project is almost $6 million. I don't have the number of properties, but we're talking about the southeast corner of an entire community. The investment is $6 million. That assessment is going to be expensive for that particular area. I'm not trying to say that we're assessing the entire city for that one project. I explained, I corresponded with Mr. Huizinga several times and explained to him that stormwater master plan, let me back up a little bit. The four projects currently proposed in the budget, these are the short-term priority projects because there is currently major flooding in these areas. However, the stormwater master plan talks about culvert and headwall replacement. Talk about waterway restoration, which is citywide. We just replaced a small pipe outfall in Jacaranda Cay, $54,000. So the benefit to the public throughout the city. In addition, the sustainable operation just went over the equipment, these equipment, and to answer Mr. Huizinga about, okay, we need a sustainable operation, but if you keep receiving that money, when are we going to be enough? Well, the equipment that we receive today in 20 years, these are going to be aging equipment that's going to require replacement. The jet vac is $600,000 in 2023. So in 20 years, this dollar could be a million dollars. So what we're trying to set is a sustainable operation and a capital for citywide operation. I hope I answered some of your questions.

And also, like you said, you kind of – I was already envisioning it, you kind of said it. We generally built from the east of the city to the west, even though we skipped ahead and back, but it generally built east to west. So the east is older and it's going to be failing more. But the west eventually in 20 years will be needing what we need, just like you just said, Jacaranda Cay, which is a middle-aged neighborhood, had a failed culvert for $54,000, you said. And, again, it was probably an emergency repair.

Just one 20-foot section corroded pipe, very infested with roots. We have to replace. We have to extend the pipe. We did it on an emergency basis, which is higher expense, like we discussed before. So just two days' worth of work, $54,000 in Jacaranda Cay. It's another example that the benefit of Stormwater Fund benefit the entire city from east to west. To your point, the east portion of the town, because it is the older portion of the town, and in the historic district specifically, because the type of material, it's corrugated metal pipe that corrodes with time and exposure to water, which deteriorate these pipes. And we saw the failure on Cypress Road, where the road opened, and the replacement was almost $300,000.

But you've been running cameras down them proactively and fixing them, so they're not going to be the emergency. We're trying our best, sir. Right.

We're trying to be proactive.

Proactive, across the city, wherever you need it, and you're prioritizing the need and so forth.

And we try to base our business decision based on data. So we would like to continue engaging, for example, the waterway. We will do the, if you approve the budget, we will do the waterway study, and we will bring it forward to the public, and we will discuss it with the public. We will publish it on the website so people can understand why you're dredging this canal, not my canal. So we want to have more data-driven decisions, basis.

Okay. Thank you very much. Council Member Ryanstein, and then the Mayor.

Thank you very much. First, just a confirmation in terms of the stormwater management utility fee that we are deciding on today. Does that come before the Council every year?

Correct.

So if one of the, whatever option is decided on today, if we decide next year that more is needed, we can raise the utility fee next year.

That's true. Right.

And for many of the projects that we're talking about, these are long-term projects. They're projects that, um, you, um, have set out based on if the max at 108 is approved. Um, if it wasn't approved at that number, um, then I would suspect that your plan for next year's presentation would include those same projects and probably additional projects.

Yeah, the timeline of the projects will be adjusted according to, uh, the available revenue, the available money. For example, Plantation Park, we would like to have this, uh, the drainage, uh, portion done because we have available paving money and we would like to fix the drainage. Let's say there's not available drainage fund, just the delivery of the paving will be extended on a longer period of time, which not recommended because then you will have more failure in the paving structure.

I understand, and in terms of the, the funding though, is that just to be clear though, is that, um, you did set forth that at the third option, which is the, the $96 that in order to fund, I believe the priority projects, you would need to pull from the fund balance. Correct. And so, you've already identified that there's funds in the fund balance that would, um, be accessible or would be needed and would be utilized in order to make sure that at least those priority projects are taken care of.

Correct. But let me, uh, just answer one point over there. The fund balance is our emergency fund.

Yeah, I wasn't, I understand. I wasn't asking, um, I, I understand, um, that it's, it's there for if it's necessary. For those emergency needs, um, thank you. I, that answers my questions. Thank you.

Mayor, did you have something?

Yeah, a couple of things.

I've been sitting here doing math. Sorry. Um, I, I kind of agree that there should, could be a way for neighborhoods to pay a share of what their improvement is going to be. But on the other hand, I did the math, um, country club estates has about 750 homes. Um, the improvements we're looking at is 30 million. Um, so that means they would each have to kick in 400K. That ain't going to work, obviously, obviously. Um, so a mix of the two, you know, but, but I, I do like Mr. Huizenga's idea that the people being benefited, there, there should be, there should be some, you know, contribution from them somehow, some way. Um, the second one is, I, I sat here, and if we did away with all the tiers, I think I have it as, to make your number, 22,000 single-family homes?

18,800 parcel.

Okay, so, 4.4 million divided by 22,000 is 200 bucks. So, in my mind, I was estimating if you did away with the tiers and said everybody paid the same thing. My, my numbers are off a little bit, so it'd probably be closer to 150, just for sake of conversation. And I didn't know if that has an effect on anybody or not. Just, I just want to spit out the numbers.

Thanks for throwing it out there, Mayor. All right. Thank you, Ms. Shailott. We have a motion and a second. Um, no, seeing no further discussion, Ms. Biggerow, please call the roll. Council Member Andrew.

Yes.

Council Member Fadgen. No. Council Member Reinstein. No. Council Member Anderson. Yes. Council Member Horland. Yes. Thank you. Okay, we're all set. Thank you very much. Um, I don't think we need closing comments because we'll be here again on Wednesday. So, with that, it is 6.54 and the meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Ms.