Lee County weighs wastewater service options
Lee County’s $60 million offer to purchase North Fort Myers Utilities and improve wastewater service in Waterway Estates is $30 million short of the asking price, forcing county officials to consider partnerships to get the project done.
That could mean connecting to North Fort Myers Utilities or Cape Coral’s system as the county works to build a better way to avoid waste discharges into the already polluted Caloosahatchee River. State environmental officials could bring fines next year as they prepare new water quality standards.
“It would have been a good fit for us” to buy North Fort Myers Utilities, said Doug Meurer, Lee’s utilities director.
At Tuesday’s commission meeting, he will recommend to commissioners they end negotiations to purchase the private utility company and ask the company and Cape Coral to submit proposals on how much it would cost the county to connect with their systems.
The latest cost estimates Meurer has, presented in January and possibly in need of an update, show commissioners will have a tough decision.
Connecting to North Fort Myers Utilities would cost $28 million with an annual operating cost of $1.6 million. A partnership with Cape Coral would cost less to connect the pipes, $17.6 million, but more to operate the system, $2.1 million annually.
Cape Coral proposed an interlocal agreement
with the county last year to provide utilities to Waterway Estates, said Connie
Barron, Cape Coral spokeswoman.
“Whether the county connects to us or not, it really has no bearing on us
unless they change the rates,” Barron said.
Either option will allow the county to maintain its average rate of $39.57 a month for wastewater treatment for about 115,000 homes in its system.
Spending $90 million to purchase North Fort Myers Utilities would have forced a rate increase of more than $9 per home.
Tony Reeves, director of North Fort Myers Utilities, said he would not lower his asking price.
Commissioner Tammy Hall, whose district includes the Waterway Estates community, said she was disappointed a deal could not be worked out with the private utility company.
“I looked at this as a wonderful opportunity for our utility to expand,” she said.
— The News-Press staff writer Gabriella Souza contributed to this report.