The Pasco County Legislative Delegation meeting will be held on January 7, 2025 at PHSC’s West Pasco Campus’ Performing Arts Center located at 10230 Ridge Road in New Port Richey.  The request is for the City Council to discuss the legislative priorities that they would like to have presented at the Delegation. The second part of the request is for the council to appoint two representatives from the city to represent the city’s legislative priorities and any projects for which support is to be requested.

Although the Florida League of Cities does an extraordinary job in preparing its platform of priorities and policy positions there are several other bills which may be introduced during the current session that would impact the city and therefore warrant watching.  They are as follows:

Priorities:

Enterprise Fund Transfers

The city should support the preservation of our authority to manage the revenue source and realize a reasonable rate of return on the asset if the bill is reintroduced.

Advanced Wastewater Treatment

HB 1153 and SB 1304 narrowly failed last session and would have required the Department of Environmental Protection in consultation with water management districts and wastewater facilities to submit to the Governor and Legislature reports containing specified information on sewage disposal facilities with a permitted capacity greater than 1 million gallons per day. The city staff recommends that we do not support the bill because completing the report would require the advanced treatment of wastewater which would require a larger footprint upon which to establish a facility.  Therefore, the existing plant would need to be relocated at an estimated cost of between $300,000,000 to $500,000,000.

Municipal Utilities

The proposed bills HB 1277 and SB 1510 would have imposed restrictions on the use of municipal water, wastewater, gas or electric utility revenues to fund general government services and imposed restrictions on the imposition of water and wastewater extraterritorial surcharges. The city staff recommends against any proposed legislation that potentially may lead to an increased cost to utility customers as well as to the city’s general fund that receives transfers from the fund.

Municipal Water and Sewer Utility Rates

Several bills were introduced last session in respect to imposing surcharges for serving customers outside of municipal boundaries. If legislation is approved which prohibits this practice the result will be increased costs for the utility customers.

In addition to these priorities the staff recommends advocating in favor of any legislation that enhances the recruitment and retention of public safety employees, provides assistance to cities related to hurricane response, recovery and future resiliency efforts as well as creating heightened penalties under criminal offenses against public safety employees in the line of duty.

Projects:

Town and Country Villas Water and Sewer Project

The City of New Port Richey is proposing to replace and enlarge an old, undersized potable water line and install sewer lines to replace private septic tanks in the Town and Country Villas neighborhood. Town and Country Villas is a 185 lot subdivision and unfortunately because the housing stock is located below the base elevation, the dwellings are subject to repetitive flooding during storms and natural disasters. The purpose of the proposed project is to improve resiliency of public infrastructure against future storms, rising sea levels and other disasters; to improve water quality, reduce public health risks, and environmental contamination.

The Town and Country Villas neighborhood is located in the AE 11 flood zone and as such is subject to flooding and ponding during routine storm events and also sea level rise. The neighborhood is not supported by an underground stormwater management system but through the use of natural swales in the public right-of-way to detain stormwater runoff. The replacement of the potable water and sanitary sewer infrastructure within the public right-of-way will allow capacity enhancements to the existing swales, thereby increasing their resiliency from flooding. 

The current condition of the neighborhood presents several risk factors to the residents, businesses and the city. First, storms generate flooding events that cause septic tanks to become inundated with water thereby allowing raw sewage to escape and create a public health hazard.  Second, the neighborhood predominantly is occupied by low-income households that lack the financial means by which to regularly pump and maintain their septic tanks, thereby increasing the risk of contaminated groundwater. 

Third, septic tank systems are the largest of all contributors of wastewater to the ground and are the most frequently reported source of groundwater contamination in the United States. Bacteria, viruses, and parasites are the types of pathogens in wastewater that are hazardous to humans. Fungi that can cause skin, eye, and respiratory infections can also grow in sewage and sewage sludge.  These bacteria and viruses can be transported very rapidly causing a public health risk and environmental contamination. Hepatitis A, polio, and viral gastroenteritis are a few of the diseases that can be contracted from viruses in wastewater.

Finally, through the elimination of septic tanks and replacement of the older, undersized water main the health risks in this low-income neighborhood and the larger community will improve. As sea level rises and natural disasters occur, the threat to public health from contaminated groundwater will no longer be a concern to the community.

In particular respect to the neighborhood, it should be noted that it is blighted.  In respect to the housing stock, it should be noted that it largely consists of mobile homes that are old and substandard.  There is also a small presence of site-built housing, a few of which are constructed above the flood elevation. The city has recently zoned the property so that all future housing will be site-built and properly elevated.

The estimated cost of the project is $4,800,000. Proposed financial resources for this project are $2,800,000 in legislative grant funds leveraged with $2,000,000 in local matching funds. The source of the matching funds will be from the city’s water and sewer fund.

2024 Resiliency Improvement Project

This project was identified in the City’s 2013 Stormwater Master Drainage Plan, 10-Year Update due to continual street flooding and repetitive flooding of homes in this area during storm events.

The project involves the installation of approximately 1,500 lineal feet of 36” stormwater pipe and outfalls.  Properly designed outfalls are critical to reducing or eliminating adverse impacts both on site and downstream, as a result of concentrated discharges from pipe systems and culverts.

The proposed stormwater improvement flood control elements for this project includes inlet installation on Astor Drive intersections at Berkley Road, Carlton Road, Dartmouth Road and Palmetto Road. An inlet serves as an entry point for water to enter drainage systems, stormwater management structures or other water conveyance systems.  Inlets have grates or filters to prevent debris, trash and sediment from entering the drainage system.  Proper design placement and maintenance of inlets are crucial for ensuring their effectiveness and longevity in managing water flow and protecting the environment.

The proposed stormwater improvement water quality element or best management practice (BMPS) includes the installation of a continuous deflective separation (CDS) unit west of the outfall on Palmetto Road.  A CDS is a process used to remove pollutants from the storm water.  It harnesses the power of the incoming flow to shear stormwater pollutants off the screen and deflect them to the center of the separation chamber, where they fall to the storage sump or are trapped at the water surface for later removal.

The estimated project cost is $1,530,000.  If this project is funded the city is prepared to provide $400,000 in funds to match the request $1,130,000 in grant funds. 

Schreiber Process Modification at the City of New Port Richey’s Wastewater Treatment Facility

The facility is located at 4730 Main Street, New Port Richey, FL 34652. The WWTF has a treatment capacity of 7.5 million gallons per day (MGD) based on an Annual Average Daily Flow (AADF) measurement. The plant provides effluent meeting the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) classification of Part III – Slow-Rate Public Access Reuse Systems under FAC 62-610, in which all treated effluent currently is disposed through the City’s Master Urban Reuse System and the Pasco County Master Reuse System. The plant’s biological treatment consists of four (4) oxidation ditch nitrification/denitrification basins and one (1) Schreiber treatment system with a nitrification/denitrification perimeter basin and an internal clarifier.

The Schreiber treatment unit, constructed in the early 1980s, provides a treatment capacity of 1.5 MGD and was initially intended as an advanced activated sludge processing unit to increase biological nutrient removal of Nitrogen from the waste stream. This unit has been in operation for 40 years and is beyond the typical lifespan for its intended design. The Schreiber Unit is currently limited in operational capacity due to deterioration of the mechanical equipment. Without the Schreiber process on-line, the plant is rated for a capacity of 6.0 MGD.

The treatment plant operations currently employ the use of oxidation ditch treatment units. The existing oxidation ditch units are operating as a single basin 2-stage nitrification/denitrification process and is comparable in the biological removal of nitrogen from the waste stream to the Schreiber Treatment Unit. It is therefore recommended that the City modify the Schreiber tank as a separate basin 2-stage denitrification process to better match the other treatment basins. This modification would allow for the repurposing of the existing treatment basin, and include the installation of a vertical swing gate, walkway bridge, clarifier modification equipment, electrical conduit and replace piping. The proposed Schreiber to Oxidation Unit conversion cost has been estimated by our consultant, Stroud Engineering, to be seven million, six hundred thousand dollars, $7,600,000.00. Amends provisions of law relating to municipal water and electric utility extraterritorial surcharges, extraterritorial service and transfers of enterprise funds. The bill authorizes a municipal utility to transfer a portion of its earnings to the municipality for general government purposes. The revenues transferred to fund general government purposes may not exceed a rate equal to the amount derived by applying the average of the midpoints of the rates of return on equity approved by the PSC for investor-owned utilities in the state. The amount of the transfer must be further reduced based on the percentage of extraterritorial customers served by the utility. The bill eliminates the automatic 25% surcharge that may be added to the rates and fees charged to extraterritorial customers.

Incidentally, the city imposes a 4% rate increase to its customers on an annual basis.

If funded the city is prepared to commit to participate in the funding requirement with a contribution of 25% which is 1,900,000.00.