Strangely enough, in the past six months, political kahunas have visited Waste Water Treatment #1 and its enormous vats of Number Twos more than any other location on Palm Coast. Sen. Rick Scott’s aide, U.S. Representative Randy Fine, and House Representative Sam Greco all visited with the intention of attracting federal or state funding to help offset the ongoing $240 million upgrade at the Woodlands sewer plant.
The majority of the expense is being borne by the residents through utility bills, which the City Council recently raised by 31% over the following three years. The amount of aid has been a decrease in the vats thus far: $2.5 million for that specific Woodlands sewer facility, $5 million for the city’s wastewater infrastructure generally, or 1% of the city’s half-billion dollar expansion and modernization plan.
Grego came this morning for two reasons. In addition to visiting a few other locations in the city that are included in this year’s requests from the Legislature, the junior House member who took Paul Renner’s place had the opportunity to see where some of the $5 million appropriation that he helped secure in the previous session will go: on acreage at WWTP1, funding part of the very expensive upgrade of the facility to Advanced Water Treatment standards (which are required by law, by 2035).
Additionally, it allowed local authorities to express their gratitude to the legislators in person and advocate for more. Mayor Mike Norris headed the local official delegation, which also included Communications Director Brittany Kershaw, Council member Charles Gambaro, and Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston.
Norris remarked, “He’s our main advocate up there at the state budget.” Everything is getting tighter. We will incur debt. Water is causing us to incur debt. A $292 million bond issuance will be financed in part by the utility cost increase that the council passed in March, despite Norris’s objections. The expense of repayment will be much greater. Over a two-year period, the city’s consultant had suggested two bond issues. In an effort to obtain more funds and appropriations, the council postponed the second one.
“You and I are paying for those bonds, and our residents are paying, so we’ll try to get as much as we can on anything,” Norris stated. Thus, any assistance we can receive is helpful. It lowers that debt.
The tour started with a briefing by utility employees, including Danny Ashburn, manager of wastewater treatment and reuse, Deputy Director Peter Roussell, and new Utility Director Brian Roche, as is customary during official visits. The required tour of the plant’s successive filtering tanks, which was conducted earlier in the morning and in a slightly less harsh sun than when Fine visited earlier this month, came after the briefing versions of which were previously published here and here.
“This is a significant issue that’s going to require partnership from a number of levels, from the local government, from the state government, and from the federal government,” Greco said in a kind but very vague summary. Therefore, from my vantage point, we definitely want to keep getting resources back to deal with this issue in the future. We will undoubtedly keep working on the financing that we were able to secure last year. However, this is a large endeavor that will need collaboration from all parties.
When asked what kind of financing climate the Legislature is facing in the upcoming session, he provided more details. Sen. Tom Leek, who represents Flagler County, had warned during the previous session that, now that federal Covid help has run out, funds available for local appropriations will be substantially cut while the state budget was being retrenched. He was correct. Greco stated, “I believe that the upcoming session’s FY 27 budget will resemble the FY 26 budget that we recently passed.”
He declined when asked what influence he believes he might have as a junior House member.
Council member Charle Gambaro, who was in the city today, stated, “I personally met with Representative Greco just a couple of days after he got elected, and I asked him to commit to coming here, and he’s doing it now.” We are really proud of our collaboration with him, and it’s fantastic that he delivered for us.
The council talked about the goals it will present to the legislature for potential funding on Tuesday. These include the rehabilitation and re-engineering of the congested intersection of Old Kings Road and Town Center Boulevard, as well as stormwater drainage and capacity enhancements in the flood-prone Woodlands. In light of this, Greco was given a tour of those and other places by Johnston, the municipal manager, so he could observe upcoming requests.
With no more political pilgrims anticipated, Waste Water Treatment Plant 1’s touring season may be coming to an end.
