In September 2003, the City Council adopted an ordinance establishing a Street Lighting Assessment in the City of New Port Richey. The ordinance created a means of recovering costs incurred by the City in providing street lighting services to properties in the City. These fees are collected each year as non-ad valorem assessments to the property owners, under the provisions of Chapter 197, Florida Statutes. These fees are chargeable to the property owner, regardless of whether or not a property is tenant occupied.
The City has found that the use of a non-ad valorem assessment is the most equitable method of providing the necessary funding for providing street lighting services within the City.
Each year, the City must certify its street light non-ad valorem assessment roll with Pasco County. Normally, as part of that process, parcel owners who did not pay a street light non-ad valorem assessment in the previous year, or whose street light non-ad valorem assessment changed from the previous year, are given an opportunity to make public comment and address the City Council concerning the street light non-ad valorem assessment. However, since there was a change in the methodology and an increase in the assessment rate, all property owners affected were notified by mail on August 3, 2017 about this public hearing.
The billing of the street lighting assessment fee is administered by Pasco County and can be seen as a line item in the non-ad valorem portion of the County tax bill. All property owners receive notice of their non-ad valorem assessments on their Notice of Proposed Property Taxes (TRIM Notice).
The street lighting fee is established by City ordinance. The dollar amount of the street lighting fee schedule has changed from last year ($36.24 per ERU or Equivalent Residential Unit to $38.71/ERU).