PANAMA CITY — Wendi Ringenberg’s water and sewer service in the last year has not changed — other than the fact that her bills have increased significantly.
As has been the case in years past, the sewage from her home in the Cedar Grove area is treated at the Military Point Advanced Wastewater Treatment plant, and her family’s drinking water is processed at the county plant on Transmitter Road.
But she is among the approximately 5,300 residents whose water and sewer bills have increased substantially — in some cases doubled — primarily to pay debt on the North Bay Sewer plant they don’t use. The county’s annual payment on the 20-year SunTrust loan jumped from $1.2 million last fiscal year to $2.2 million this fiscal year, and the payment will continue on in the higher amount for the remainder of the loan.
--- MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR SEWER PLANT SERVES ONLY 80 CUSTOMERS
Ringenberg’s most recent utility bill has increased from $89 in March of last year to $132 in her latest January bill.
“If I was in Panama City Beach, the bill would be $52 a month,” she said. “That’s more than double.”
She is among the many residents pleading with county commissioners to bring everyone into the fold — including city customers — to pay off the sewer plant debt. But county officials say requiring city users would not be legal, as the county’s wholesale system — in which it sells wholesale water and sewer service to cities — must be separate from the county’s retail system.
Residents argue that if this is the case, then the law should be changed.
“This is county infrastructure, so the entire county should be paying” for the North Bay plant, “not just the few retail customers,” Ringenberg said. “If the costs were spread out over the entire county, like most infrastructure costs are, it would be a negligible amount to each household. It wouldn’t be this huge burden every month they have placed on us.”
April Womack said the commission made a poor decision to purchase the sewer plant and now working people are suffering a financial hardship to pay the debt.
“It’s not like anybody else was going to buy it,” she said. “It’s not like they were going to tear it down. It’s not like they were going to move it. Why did they have to” purchase the plant “at that point? That’s governmental malfeasance as far as I’m concerned.”
When she moved with her husband to Cherokee Heights a year-and-a-half ago, their utility bill was between $40 and $50 a month. Their latest bill was $106.
“It is affecting our life in that we don’t go out each week to dinner, so we’re not spending the money at a restaurant,” she said. “I’m watching every dime I spend. We have already dropped our Sprint service, and we’ve gone to (pay-as-you-go) phones. When our contract expires in July, we are dropping cable; we’re going to antenna. I mean, you’ve got to make up for it somewhere.”
Jeff Womack said he’s particularly agitated with commissioners for a recent decision to subsidize Bay Dunes Golf course to operate for three months at a cost of $25,000 a month. Commissioners at the last meeting decided to end that contract early.
“How come they are not subsidizing our water bill?” he asked.
Hurting seniors: The increases are particularly hitting seniors on fixed incomes hard, residents say.
Cedar’s Crossing resident Regina Fidler said her utility bill has jumped from $70 to $130 a month.
“We’re retired. Were on a fixed income,” she said. “It affects us greatly. We don’t go anywhere anymore because everything else is going up, too. Vacations are gone. It’s been rough. It’s only going to get worse.”
She said they are considering moving out of Bay County.
“That’s how serious it is for me,” Fidler said. “I’ve actually thought about moving to Destin, to Texas, or anywhere. I hate to leave my grandchild behind, but I’m tired of it. This commission, they all need to be fired.”
Military personnel who live in the neighborhoods served by the county’s retail system also say the increases are hitting them hard. They lashed out at county commissioners at their Feb. 3 meeting.
Stefan Richardson told commissioners he is questioning his decision to buy a home in Bylsma Manor Estates, where he is scheduled to move soon.
“I’m excited about” the new house, he said. “When I was told that my water bill could possibly be the same amount as my electric bill, that kind of freaked me out.”
He said his water bill for his family with three children in the apartment he lives in is now about $40 a month, but he said residents in that community with fewer children than his family have told him their recent utility bill is about $120 a month.
“So to know that my water bill quite possibly could be $180 to $200 frightens me,” he said. “It’s actually got me thinking about turning back, and I don’t want to because I’m building a house.”
Her voice quivering, Jennifer Ennis pleaded with commissioners to lower the rates. She said she recently moved to Rachel’s Landing in the Bayou George area after her husband, an attorney for the Air Force, received orders to move to Tyndall in June.
--- MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR SEWER PLANT SERVES ONLY 80 CUSTOMERS
She said at their last home in Utah where her husband was stationed before they moved here, they paid a flat utility bill of $69 a month for all the water they could use, and the bill included trash pickup.
Their first few utility bills in Rachel’s Landing, without trash pickup, was $241, she said.
“Our bill this past month was $44 of water usage, plus $130 of sewer charges,” she said. “I don’t understand why this tremendous burden has been placed on so few families. I stay at home with our three children to raise them. We are single-income military, and I am pleading with you to find a better way.”
RATE COMPARISON FOR 5,000 GALLONS PER MONTH OF WATER AND SEWER USE
- Outside Callaway - $127.23
- BayCountyretail system - $119.58
- Outside Parker - $119.51
- Outside Panama City - $109.83
- City of Callaway - $93.32
- City of Parker $91.81
- Outside Panama City Beach - $86.01
- City of Panama City $65.75
- City of Lynn Haven $60.32
- City of Panama City Beach - $46.58
Sources: Bay County, cities