North Miami Beach
Water and
Money in Short Supply
City adds drought surcharge to water bills
By Erik Bojnansky
Threatened by high fines from the South Florida
Water Management District and fearful of receiving less cash
from water users, the
North Miami Beach
City Council approved surcharges on water use that exceeds
monthly rations.
“We pay the water bill just like you,”
Councilman Philippe Derose said. “I wish we could do something,
but really there is not very much we can do.”
Before enacting the ordinance, the city charged
residents a monthly consumption rate of $2.70 per 1,000 gallons
of water for the first 7,000 gallons.
The water shortage surcharge will increase the
consumption bill by 35 percent for single-family homes that use
more than 3,000 gallons a month and residential units in
apartment buildings, condos and businesses that use more than
2,000 gallons a month.
“We feel that this is the fair way to pursue
it,” Deputy City Manager Kelvin Baker said.
City officials say their actions are mandated
by the South Florida Water Management District, which wants to
reduce the region’s anticipated demand on the water supply
because of a statewide drought.
Ironically,
North Miami Beach has plenty of water. So much, in fact, that as
of two months ago, it stopped using water supplied by Miami-Dade
County, thanks to a recently completed $30 million expansion of
the Norwood Water Treatment Plant.
Unfortunately, the district’s water shortage
plan prevents the city from utilizing the station’s full
potential, said Gerald Hartman, vice president of GAI
Consultants, the firm the city hired to consult on water issues.
“We have enough water, but the water management district is not
allowing us to use it,” he said.
Violating the rules of the SFWMD, overseers of
this region’s water supply, comes at a hefty price: a fine of
$10,000 a day, Hartman said.
That leaves
North Miami Beach with another problem — a cash shortage. “If
consumption is reduced significantly, the city may experience a
revenue shortfall (insufficiency) and be unable to meet its
fiscal requirements,” according to Shawn Gabriel, North Miami
Beach’s assistant director of public services. “One way to
address this potential revenue insufficiency is to establish a
drought policy whereby a surcharge would be applied to the
customer’s consumption charge.”
Several
North Miami Beach residents and landowners complained that they
were being charged unfairly. “This is just another tax,” said
Phil Lark, whose family owns apartment buildings in the city.
Erika Pragetti, another resident, said she has
three young boys under the age of 6 and a fourth on the way. She
said it would be next to impossible for her household to use
3,000 gallons a month. “It will hit me so hard.”
Miami Gardens residents, who are charged a 15 percent monthly
surcharge for the water their homes receive from the
Norwood plant, are also wary of the new tax.
Terrence Walters, a
Miami Gardens resident, pointed out that the plant stands in
Miami Gardens’ city limits. “How does that plant benefit me?” he
asked.
Norwood’s creation predates the creation of
Miami
Gardens. According to the city,
North Miami Beach
has owned and operated the
Norwood
plant since the mid-1940s.
Miami
Gardens was unincorporated until 2003.
However, because the city invested millions
upgrading the plant,
North Miami Beach
has the best-tasting tap water in
Miami-Dade
County and even Monroe, according to a recent contest held by
the American Water Works Association.
Hartman contends that access to an abundant
water supply (even though the access is restricted) is a benefit
for
Miami Gardens residents.
That water supply will also pave the way for a
development boom for
Miami
Gardens, said Mayor Raymond Marin. “We took our money and put it
into your city so the city could develop,” he said. “You will
get the benefits of these tax revenues.”
The Miami-Dade County Commission, though, felt
that the surtax
North Miami Beach
is charging Norwood water users who live just outside of the
city limits is unfair. Last month, it passed a resolution urging
the state Legislature to outlaw the practice.
In response, the city of
North Miami Beach passed a resolution of its own “opposing and
protesting” the county action. Mayor Marin said the county is
unfairly targeting North Miami Beach and it could cost the city
$4.8 million — money that is needed to help pay for and operate
the station.
