Orange County commissioners agreed unanimously Tuesday to allow the Florida Governmental Utility Authority to explore acquiring the deteriorating, privately-owned water and wastewater systems Wedgefield residents have complained about for years.
Private company Pluris owns and operates both systems, which would collectively cost an estimated $83.4 million to acquire. An evaluation by Orange County Utilities deems both systems to be in a “substandard state” and in need of “extensive rehabilitation.” In particular, the wastewater treatment plant is so deteriorated, staff determined repairing it “is not economically viable.”
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While Tuesday’s decision opens the door for FGUA to explore the possibility of acquisition, it isn’t a guarantee. The special purpose government would need to come to that decision independently.
But Orange County Utilities Deputy Director Tim Armstrong is hopeful, saying of FGUA: “Their whole goal as an entity is to take poorly-functioning water systems and wastewater systems and bring them back into compliance.” By this fall or winter, the Pluris systems in Wedgefield could have a new owner, Armstrong said, depending on how FGUA’s due diligence process goes.
District 3 Commissioner Mayra Uribe described the possibility as a “light at the end of the tunnel” for residents who have long complained of poor water quality, aesthetics and high utility rates.
Pluris Wedgefield's latest annual drinking water report shows no detected violations of state or federal water quality regulations. But Wedgefield residents say they still have concerns, citing hard water which, at times, smells like sewage.
“It smells bad. Some days it smells worse than others,” said Helen Unser, who moved to Wedgefield in 2004. “We’ve gone through two water heaters, two dishwashers; sinks, faucets — constantly, because of the water conditions.”
Now, Unser and her husband are on their third water filtration system. The last one cost $2,000, Philip J. Unser said. The couple, both in their 80s, traveled to Tallahassee last year to protest rate hikes Pluris sought from the Florida Public Service Commission. Ultimately, the regulator allowed the private utility to raise rates.
Although rate hikes could still be possible for Wedgefield residents if FGUA were to take over, Armstrong said Tuesday, he indicated residents would most likely see rates go down.
For many Wedgefield residents, the FGUA-ownership scenario seems more promising than other proposed options for acquiring the flailing systems.
In two alternative scenarios, the county would acquire the systems: either at the full expense of Wedgefield property owners, or with the county pitching in some funds. Both scenarios would require residents to vote in favor of creating a new, self-imposed special taxing district, called a Municipal Service Benefit Unit or MSBU.
The first option, for Wedgefield residents to 100% fund the acquisition, is “a dead issue with this community,” Armstrong told commissioners Tuesday. But there is some support for the latter scenario, which would put residents on the hook for $35 million of the total $83.4 million price. Still, some residents have concerns about a potential MSBU, including how it might affect the value of their homes.
“There were some folks that really didn't like the idea of having, in essence, a 20-year tax lien on their home,” Armstrong said. “Not having an MSBU, and [having] it be funded by FGUA — that would definitely take that concern away.”
Another point in FGUA’s favor is the special purpose government’s strong track record on scoring grant funding from the state legislature, Armstrong said.
This past legislative session, FGUA requested and received funding for three sewer-related projects: $4.5 million in all, representing a partial win (the original requested amount was $12.3 million). Meanwhile, Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed $7.5 million lawmakers had set aside to help improve Wedgefield’s infrastructure.
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District 5 Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad, who represents the part of Orange County including Wedgefield, said FGUA’s ability to score grant funding helps her feel “really comfortable” about it potentially taking over Pluris’ systems. She said it’s well past time to address issues with Wedgefield’s compromised sewer system, and avoid the dire consequences of a potential system failure.
“One, it [sewage] destroys 1,800 homes. Two, it goes straight into the St. Johns River Basin,” Martinez Semrad said. “And three, it's gonna come onto the backs of all taxpayers, to have to clean up that raw sewage in a community.”
Should FGUA ultimately acquire the Pluris systems in Wedgefield, Orange County could still potentially take over ownership sometime down the road, Armstrong said.
“The residents told me last week that Orange County utilities will always be their number one option. And we get it,” Armstrong said. “We give good services, and they want to have that. But this doesn't preclude that. This just says: not now, but potentially in the future.
“They could actually get the benefit of having FGUA invest some money, get the utility where it needs to be, and then potentially purchased.”
Additionally, the special purpose government has promised it would abide by Orange County Utilities’ high standards when making repairs or building new facilities, Armstrong said.
“They [FGUA] also told us they would adopt our construction standards in Orange County, so if they're doing a repair to a water or wastewater facility, they do it to the standard of the county,” Armstrong said. “So we would know as a potential owner in the future, if that does happen, that those repairs would have been done to our standard, which is very, very good.”
As far as retrofitting the existing Wedgefield facilities to Orange County code, Armstrong said that decision would be up to FGUA.
A coalition of residents at Tuesday’s meeting welcomed commissioners’ decision, including the Unsers, who love living in Wedgefield and don’t want to move away from what they call “the city part of the country.” After watching some prior commission boards kick the can down the road, the Unsers said, Tuesday’s decision marks a step forward.
“It's a better deal than what we have right now. It has a future to it,” Helen Unser said.
