St. Petersburg residents will pay more for water, sewer, and trash service starting soon after the City Council voted Thursday night to raise utility rates across the board, brushing aside objections from a room full of ratepayers.

The council approved increases to water, wastewater, stormwater and sanitation charges. Customers with reclaimed water hookups will see bills climb by about 7.71% a month; those without will see a 6.86% bump. Broken down, that means an extra $2.61 for water, $4.38 for wastewater, $10 to $14 for stormwater, and roughly $2 for sanitation — costs that land squarely on households already stretched thin by years of inflation.

City officials framed the hike as necessary to keep utilities running and to shore up the city’s defenses against future storms. But residents who showed up to the meeting weren’t buying it. Holly Noah, one of several who spoke against the increase, said she’s already had to rework her budget just to keep enough in the bank to cover the city’s water bill. She and others pushed back on the idea that a blanket rate hike was the only option, suggesting the city instead target heavy water users with a usage-based fee rather than spreading the cost across everyone.

Even council chair Lisset Hanewicz acknowledged the bind taxpayers are in, telling residents she wished she could hand back a refund check and conceded that in “an ideal world,” people wouldn’t have to pay taxes at all to get city services. It’s a notable admission from the dais — one that raises the question of whether a leaner approach to city spending, rather than another rate increase, might have spared residents the extra bill.

Follow the St. Pete-Clearwater Sun on Facebook, Google, & X

St. Pete-Clearwater Sun: local St. Pete-Clearwater & Tampa Bay, FL news at PIE-Sun.com