Rate Increase to Help Fight Flooding in Dunedin

What do you think: Is the rate increase worth it to combat flooding in Dunedin? What are some areas around town that need to be addressed for flooding? Post a comment below.

Dunedin residents will soon be paying a little more for their stormwater services, but city commissioners hope it will eventually pay off when the city gets deluged with rain.

The city plans to raise its stormwater utility rate by 50 cents per month, an increase that will go toward funding a series of capital improvement projects aimed at alleviating flooding in trouble spots around town.

Among the work to be done, according to Public Works Director Doug Hutchens: the President Street outfall; a cleanup of Cedar Creek and Curlew Creek; an ongoing pipe rehabilitation project; a tackling of localized flooding in Dale Circle and Brook Drive in the Amberlea subdivision; and overall storm system maintenance.

"I think it's really important that we keep our ditches mowed and clean and our inlets open to reduce the frequency of flooding during storm events," Hutchens said.

Commissioner Julie Ward Bujalski said the increase would help the city tackle projects that have been on the list for years — or in the case of the President Street work, decades.

"For what we're getting for our 50 cents, I think it speaks for itself," Bujalski said.

The stormwater rate will increase from $8.80 to $9.30 for a typical residential home.

"The good news is the proposed rate increase is half of what was initially anticipated a year ago," Hutchens said.

The increase, if it gets final approval at the commission's next meeting on Sept. 27, would go into effect Oct. 1.