By Lisa ZahnerVERO BEACH — At 4 p.m. Tuesday, the Vero Beach City Council will have a public hearing on a proposal to raise water, sewer and rates by 37 percent, with the hikes to take effect on October 1.Water rates are set to rise by 7.5 percent and sewer rates will soar by 29.5 percent, as recommended by a rate study conducted by Public Resources Management Group earlier this year. PRMG told the City it needed to make the long-overdue changes in the rates to fund operating expenses and capital projects on the aging system. The water and sewer utilities, between direct transfers to the general fund and administration charges of approximately $20,000 per employee, controbute about $4 million toward the City’s general expenses and City Hall operations.It is expected that there will be substantial public comment on this issue as residents have voiced concern and distress about the soaring rates at previous meetings.Also on the agenda is a request by City Attorney Charles Vitunac for the City to forward its proposed electric rate structure to the Public Services Commission for their review.”Staff requests approval to send a copy of the electric rate study just submitted to the City by PRMG to the Florida Public Service Commission,” Vitunac asked in a memo to Mayor Sabin Abell and the City Council. “Any comments which they might have will be presented at the public hearing which the City must hold before adopting any such changes.”Should the PSC sign off on the new rate structure, the City will hold public hearings on Nov. 3 and Nov 17 and the new rates will go into effect on January 1, 2010. Though base rates are scheduled to go up, City officials have promised that residents will see a net decrease in power bills beginning in February due to a new contract arrangement with the Orlando Utilities Commission. Abell and City Council members have blamed this summer’s skyrocketing electric bills on a “bad deal” with the Florida Metropolitan Power Agency, resulting in high power cost adjustments and a $1 million settlement charge for illegal transmission of power via Florida Power and Light lines over a seven-mont period.At 5:01 p.m. Tuesday, the City will also take up its fiscal year 2009-2010 budget. The budget includes the controversial $5.9 million transfer to the general fund from the electric utility, which the City uses to keep the millage rate of 1.93 very low. That transfer nets more revenue than the City’s ad valorem taxes and its imposition on the utility bills of county subscribers forced to use City utilities has been described as “taxation without representation” by local residents and County officials.The meeting will be in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
