Tarpon Springs stormwater fees going up

By Juliana A. Torres

TARPON SPRINGS – Residents of Tarpon Springs will pay a little more for stormwater in the coming years as the city tries to raise more funds to keep streets from flooding during rainstorms.

The Tarpon Springs Commission passed a resolution Sept. 15 that will gradually raise the stormwater fees each year to meet current and future stormwater revenue needs. Up until now, the fee hasn’t been increased since 2002.

The increased revenue will help the city pay for capital improvements to the system following the development of the Stormwater Action Plan.

Taking a proactive approach was better than having to raise the fee drastically to make up for revenue shortfalls, as the city of Tampa had to do recently, said Commissioner David Banther.