The Brooksville City Council voted 5-0 to adopt Resolution 2025-02, which sets new water and wastewater connection fees recommended by a consultant study to help fund planned wastewater capacity upgrades.

The council action follows a presentation from Raft House consultants that recommended raising the water connection fee to $765 and the wastewater connection fee to $6,467. Mark Tumah, project manager for the study, said, “connection fees are paid by new development to fund infrastructure costs allocated to growth.”

The consultant team told the council the city’s current connection fees were set in 2004 and that the existing wastewater treatment plant is at capacity under current peaking factors (about 1.9 million gallons per day). The recommended fee calculation is driven mainly by an estimated 1.1 MGD expansion with a cost the consultants placed at about $26 million, plus a $1.3 million master lift station. The consultants used a level-of-service assumption of 250 gallons per day per water unit and 200 gallons per day per wastewater unit to convert capital costs into per-unit fees.

Tumah showed municipal comparisons and statewide examples that have raised connection fees recently; he recommended the city adopt the new water fee of $765 and wastewater fee of $6,467 and review fees every three to five years as costs change. He also presented projected revenue figures tied to an estimate of 9,773 development units: at the city’s current wastewater fee of $1,728 the consultants said projected revenue would be about $16,887,000, while at the new wastewater fee of $6,467 the projection would be about $63,201,000.

Council discussion emphasized that the fees are paid by developers rather than by existing residential ratepayers. Mayor Tanner and other members asked staff and the consultant to clarify that the charge is a connection fee applied to new development. Dallas Evans of Metro Development asked a public-question confirming that the proposed rates replace prior water and wastewater impact/connection fees; staff answered yes.

Roll call on Resolution 2025-02 was: Councilmember Earhart — Aye; Councilmember McKeithen — Aye; Councilmember Hallau — Aye; Vice Mayor Bronson — Aye; Mayor Tanner — Aye. The motion passed 5 to 0.

The council packet includes the Raft House connection-fee study, which documents the capital-cost inputs and the recommended per-unit fees. The council instructed staff to return the ordinance/resolution language as adopted and to bring fee updates back for review if material cost changes occur.

For now, the council’s adoption sets the fee schedule in city code and directs staff to implement it for future utility service agreements and building-permit collection as applicable.