DELTONA, Fla. — One Central Florida Mayor is taking matters into his own hands in an effort to reduce utility bills for his residents.
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Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila, Jr. has directed Interim City Manager Glenn Whitcomb to add a discussion on eliminating two specific utility fees to the agenda for the next City Commission meeting.
After getting several complaints from residents about high bills from Duke and Florida Power and Light, Avila posted a message to Facebook saying he wants to reduce or completely eliminate the ‘utility tax” and “franchise fee” from power bills.
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“Right now, we are living in an economic era that is tough on everyone,” Avila said.
In Deltona, the franchise fee and utility tax charged go directly to the city.
The franchise fee is for an agreement to make sure the city doesn’t start its own utility power company.
“I’m not interested in starting a utility company,” Avila said of the franchise fee. “What I am interested in doing is reducing taxes, and this is a tax.”
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Not all of Avila’s colleagues agree with the plan.
“It’s about $12 million in our general fund,” Vice Mayor Jody Lee Storozuk explained. “You can take it away, but what are you gong to do about it? Raise our taxes.”
Storozuk says doing away with the fees sounds great in theory, but it would never actually work.
“That covers about 120 employees,” Storozuk said. “What part of the city do you want to cut?”
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Avila says his proposal could save residents hundreds of dollars every year.
The next step in the process will be a discussion about the Mayor’s proposal at the next City Commission meeting, scheduled for later this month.
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