Neighborhood undergrounding discussion continues tonight

The debate over how to fund a $23.85 million neighborhood and side street undergrounding project continues tonight at the Longboat Key Town Commission's 7 p.m. regular meeting tonight at Town Hall, 501 Bay Isles Road.

Town Manager Dave Bullock is expected to discuss the possibility of using utility reserve funds to help pay for costs associated with the project.

Voters will decide at the polls March 15 whether to issue bonds for the project, which would bury all the town's power lines island-wide.

At the Longboat Key Town Commission’s Jan. 19 workshop, Commissioner Lynn Larson suggested the town investigate whether it can use utility funds usually used to pay for costs associated with road and water projects.

“You mentioned they (utility funds) could only be used for utility purposes but the new underground project will also include meter reading and pump station enhancements,” Larson wrote in a Jan. 21 email to Bullock. “With that in mind, could some of the funds be applied toward the underground project?”

Bullock has also informed commissioners that informational meetings scheduled with neighborhoods and community associations this month to discuss the neighborhood undergrounding project will be rescheduled after the Feb. 16 regular workshop.

Bullock told the commission that Feb. 16 is the last day he feels comfortable making changes or taking direction on the evolving project before the election, because staff plans to undertake a public education effort around the Key before voters head to the polls.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].