Commission vets neighborhood undergrounding project tonight

The Longboat Key Town Commission will discuss funding formulas to bury the rest of the island’s utilities in neighborhoods and side streets at its 7 p.m. regular meeting tonight at Town Hall.

Town staff is proposing that property owners with existing underground utilities pay 18.5% of the total project and properties that need utilities buried pay for 81.5% of the project cost.

For example, a homeowner that already has underground utilities on Longboat Club Road would pay a total cost of $513.35 for an annual additional cost of $31.85 over 30 years at a 4.5% interest rate. But a homeowner on St. Judes Drive with overhead utilities that need buried would pay a total cost of $8,495.44 for an annual additional cost of $527.04 over 30 years at a 4.5% interest rate.

The Town Commission wants voters to decide whether they will approve the project on the March 15 ballot. The concept and referendum language approval still needs to be approved on first and second readings on Dec. 14 and at a special meeting Jan. 4.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].