Cape Council gives nod to UEP assessment for properties in North 1 East
Tally to top $32,000 for standard lot
Property owners in the next phase of the city of Cape Coral’s Utility Expansion Project can expect to pay more than $32,000 for the extension of water and sewer services to their site.
Cape Coral City Council moved forward with the initial assessment for the North 1 East UEP set Wednesday night.
Financial Services Director Crystal Feast said the estimated assessment for a standard “equivalent parcel” is $8,221 for water, $9,607 for sewer, $7,710 for irrigation for an estimated total of $25,538. The Capital Facility Expansion Charge estimates are $1,106 for water, $3,390 for sewer, $2,254 for irrigation water for a total of $6,759. The total for both EP and CFEC is $32,288 for a standard, residential lot. Owners of larger lots will pay more.
Feast said the city has been awarded grants, which will reduce the overall assessment by $4,000.
This assessment, though, does not include the cost of connection or the cost of dismantling existing septic tanks or other private devices. Those costs run from $3,000 for an average plumber’s connection to $225 for the deposit on a city utility account.
There are certain categories of properties that will receive exemptions including parcels owned by the city, county, state and federal government. In addition, a partial exemption is given to churches, private schools and hospitals because of the public benefit they provide.
There are multiple options for payments – initial repayment, interim prepayment and amortized – billed annually on a tax bill for 20, 25, or 30 years. The first billing will occur in November 2026.
The initial prepayment is $32,288, and interim prepayment is $33,142 The annual payment for a 20-year term is $3,961, 25-year term is $3,616 and the default 30-year term is $3,385 every year.
The interest rate is 6.25%, the maximum percentage, which may be lowered.
There are hardship programs available ranging from deferral of annual payments, to grants depending on income requirements and household requirements.
“These costs are significant,” Councilmember Joe Kilraine said. “As we discussed before, the methodology to estimate these cost and develop them have been consistent across the board. It’s unfortunate they got delayed over the years, which adds expense and exacerbates the problem.”
He said the city cannot further delay the process, as the costs will only increase.
“It’s never going to be less expensive of building these than today,” Kilraine said. “They are going to be the cheapest today than they will be in the future.”
He said the city will continue to apply pressure on the powers to be in both the state and federal level to exercise grant capability.
Councilmember Dr. Derrick Donnell said there is a lot of winning happening now.
“The win for the city – the council went to work and the financing options now did not exist. There is a lot of grant pieces that died not exist. Many things are put into place to help the residents,” he said from where they were in 2007-2008. “We are going to work to get even more pieces we can do to help. There is no way around this when you are building a city.”
Design and Construction Manager Bill Corbett said the utility expansion project is responsible for extending water, sewer and irrigation throughout the city through phases that include special assessments and water fees to fund the project.
He said breaking down the project costs, including the soft costs it is $227.5 million for the project component.
There are two components of the assessment – the first – the line of extension assessment (SF) and the capital facility expansion charge (CFEC). The CFEC covers shared facilities, pump stations and larger treatments and transmission.
SF is based on equivalent parcel method for water and irrigation distribution mains and wastewater collection mains, while CFEC is based on the equivalent residential unit method for treatment and transmission.
The line extension is based on an equivalent parcel, which is 10,000 square feet.
Corbett said there are 3,900 EP parcels.
Council also moved forward with construction contracts for the North 1 East Utility Expansion Program.
The contracts approved were for Guyman Construction of Florida, Inc, for contract area number seven in the amount of $27,125,519.13, Denco Construction, Inc for contract area number 8 for $27,886,615 and Southwest Utility Systems, Inc. for contract area 9 for $17,220,047.31 and contract 10 in the amount of $31,899,026.19.
The contracts seven through 10 have a duration of 720 days.
The council also approved a contract for master pump station number 725 for Southwest Utility Systems, Inc in the not to exceed amount of $8,377,149.44. The master pump station will pump 3,600 gallons of water per minute. The contract duration is 485 days.
The last resolution was approval of the contract with Tetra Tech, Inc for construction engineering and inspection services for the North 1 East Utilities Extension Project for a not to exceed amount of $13,285,496.
As part of this service, the city will receive a full-time inspector for the Northeast 24th Avenue road widening, public information officer and a consultant to monitor grants to make sure all requirements for federal funding.
The projects are linear projects to provide potable water, irrigation and sewer and two lift stations.
According to the presentation to city staff, contract 11 is just an estimate, as they are at 90% document review. The goal is to provide documents to procurement by Dec. 31.
The construction contracts for 34.2 road miles is for $175,336,314.43.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com