Aquaterra rates irk Heritage Harbour CDD

HERITAGE HARBOUR — As Lighthouse Cove resident Joe Ramsey looks at the papers before him, he can’t help but cringe.

One is the 2011 budget worksheet for Lighthouse Cove, and the other is his latest bill from the Manatee County Utilities Department.

His community association, Lighthouse Cove at Heritage Harbour, has budgeted $37,955 for irrigation water costs, which will be divided among the association’s 245 units owners. The amount equates to $39 per unit per quarter, or $12.91 per month per residence.

To Manatee County, however, Ramsey most recently paid just $10.14 for a month worth of clean drinking water, in addition to a $7.50 usage fee.

The difference — just $4.73 a month — is Ramsey’s point of contention. For less than $5 more, Ramsey is getting more than twice the amount of drinking water (5,600 gallons) than he is untreated reclaimed water, assuming usage of about 2,000 gallons a month for yard watering.

“The rates (Aquaterra is) charging are just egregious,” Ramsey said. “If you went to Manatee County today, they charge (25) cents per 1,000 gallons of irrigation water.”

Ramsey, among other residents of the Heritage Harbour South Community Development District, said he and other property owners in the community are being charged too much for irrigation water, which is pumped through a CDD-owned pipeline at no charge to Aquaterra, the developer-controlled irrigation utility.

“Fair rates — that’s all we’re asking,” Ramsey said.

Marshall Ames, Lennar’s head of communications, declined comment.

“We are not able to assist you,” he said on Monday in an email response to questions about Aquaterra’s operations.

Supervisors on the Heritage Harbour South CDD on April 7 are expected to review a revised agreement with Aquaterra that will resolve some outstanding legal issues the board learned about in 2010. In a memo prefacing the agreement, the district’s attorney Ken vanAssenderp notes the original 2002 irrigation agreement between the utility and other parties never was noticed publicly and was signed on behalf of the district by a non-board member.

The new agreement will reduce the contract timeline from 30 years to 10, as per Florida statute, reiterates that the district owns the irrigation system and formally gives Aquaterra permission to use the district’s pipeline to provide irrigation water to residents.

The agreement, however, is not likely to include provisions for rates, although the issue has been a source of frustration for board members over the last year, Supervisor Lee Bettes said.

“It resolves ownership issues, but beyond that, it does (nothing),” Bettes said of the potential agreement. “I don’t know (that) there’s any advantage to us signing an agreement if it doesn’t include (new rates).
“From a strict, ‘Here’s the water cost rate,’ it seems reasonable,” he said. “However, when you realize the CDD (pays for) piping and transmission and it’s a capitalized cost we’re going to pay for the next 22 years, we want compensation for that.”

Supervisors have discussed assessing Aquaterra for the use of the district’s irrigation system as a way to remedy the situation and will include the discussion as part of their budget process, supervisors said last month.

As part of the agenda packet emailed to supervisors March 24, Community Manager Jim Ward noted Aquaterra, at that time, had not yet agreed to the new contract.

The Heritage Harbour South CDD meeting will be held at 3 p.m., April 7, at the River Strand Country Club clubhouse, 7155 Grand Estuary Trail.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

NUMBERS GAME
Mark Simpson, Water Division Manager for the Manatee County Utilities Department, said in the 2010 calendar year, Aquaterra purchased an average of 252,000 gallons of reclaimed water per day from the county. Last year, the utility paid 20 cents per 1,000 gallons as a “master metered residential or commercial” customer and had an average monthly bill of $132.80. For the same usage in 2011 with revised rates, the charge would be $153 per month.

The monthly totals include a $82.40 base charge in 2010 and a $90 base charge in 2011 for Aquaterra’s 10-inch master meter.

Lighthouse Cove at Heritage Harbour residents are paying about $3,080 a month in total for irrigation water (excluding meter charges), compared to the $50.40 Aquaterra was charged by Manatee County for the same amount of water.

BY COMPARISON
In Lakewood Ranch, the community’s developer-owned irrigation utility, Braden River Utilities, charges each of Lakewood Ranch’s community development districts 60 cents per 1,000 gallons and a monthly meter fee of $663.80 in total, Interim Executive Director of Town Hall Steve Zielinski said. Supervisors on Lakewood Ranch’s Inter-District Authority board have said they believe the rate is fair.