Wedgefield residents brace for water rate hikes as talks continue for a possible Pluris acquisition

WEDGEFIELD, Fla. — Some East Orange County residents are likely to see their water bills close to double in a matter of weeks.

We first reported Monday that water bills in the town of Wedgefield could go up 46 to 108 percent for various services.

But price hikes could have been put on hold, depending on the outcome of an Orange County Commission meeting Tuesday.

The privately owned water supplier Pluris, bills customers in the town of Wedgefield and has been in talks to sell their operations to Orange County for $30 million.

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But during Tuesday’s meeting, Orange County Utilities warned that there’s millions more in extra costs that could come with an acquisition...

Sue Grode moved to Wedgefield 5 years ago and is hoping an agreement can be reached.

She says the water flowing from her faucet now comes with an exorbitant price tag.

“They don’t tell you when you move in about Pluris. I would have probably thought twice if I had known how expensive the water was out there,” said Grode.

The water provider currently mails out some of the biggest bills in central Florida.

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A report to Orange County Commissioners showed the average Pluris bill is $133.70 dollars compared to $67.49 paid by Orange County Utility customers.

Last week, residents across Wedgefield received letters from Pluris notifying them of possible rate hikes that would amount to 46 percent for drinking water and 108 percent for wastewater.

The company said they would put interim hikes on hold if Orange County Commissioners decided to acquire Pluris.  But on Tuesday commissioners were far from committing to an acquisition.

Commissioners were warned by Orange County Utilities that the $30 million acquisition price doesn’t take into account the potential millions that would need to be spent to fix operations on the facility that has existed since the 1960s.

“It’s a 1963 utility that is up in age and it’s probably going to have significant defects,” said Tim Armstrong, Deputy Director for Orange County Utilities.

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After a lengthy discussion, Wedgefield’s designated commissioner Emily Bonilla motioned to advance the next phase in a potential acquisition. That phase includes an $83,000 appraisal assessment that would start to get at the potential true cost.

Commissioners did agree to move forward with that assessment without committing to anything further.

Commissioners also discussed how any potential costs would ultimately be passed onto Wedgefield residents through a Municipal Service Benefit Unit.  But the stakes are high for anyone with an Orange County Utilities bill.

“If we don’t get it right and we don’t do a full assessment of the utility, and we put $10 million dollars for capital improvements and it’s really $50 that’s going to be a problem for the ratepayers,” said Armstrong.

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Armstrong later cautioned that anyone with an Orange County Utilities bill could feel cost pressure if the county moved forward with an acquisition without having an accurate assessment of the infrastructure needs.

He also explained that it would cost over $1 million and take 13 months to get a sense of all the engineering needs that would exist at Pluris.

Before an acquisition could move forward either way, Wedgefield residents would also need to have majority support for the acquisition.

A straw poll conducted by the county found so far 344 residents were in favor of an acquisition, 208 were not in favor, and 1,185 people chose not to weigh in.

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