By Margie Plunkett
Briny Breezes’ appeal to pay lower residential water rates backfired after supplier Boynton Beach denied the request and determined that the seaside town actually should be billed even more.
Boynton Beach said it realized it has been undercharging — for 351 properties instead of a total 488 Briny homes — and Briny Breezes owed $68,000 more. That debt will be forgiven, but Boynton Beach will not repay a separate $26,000 it previously overcharged the smaller town.
Briny will end up paying an annual water bill of about $110,000 now, compared to $80,000 if it were charged inside rates, Mayor Roger Bennett said, adding that’s more than $40,000 higher than the last one-year period.
At the town’s December meeting, Bennett said he has sought the town attorney’s advice on Briny’s next step in the negotiations.
The plea for lower rates was made after Boynton Beach raised water rates across the board, which translated into 25 percent higher bills for Briny, according to Bennett. Briny also pays a 25 percent surcharge because it is outside Boynton city limits. Bennett argued that since neighboring Ocean Ridge pays inside rates, Briny should also.
Ocean Ridge pays the rates because when it split from Boynton Beach to form its own municipality in the early 1900s, it entered into an agreement that allowed it to own its water infrastructure and pay inside rates. Bennett contends Briny also was formerly a part of Boynton Beach and should be treated the same as Ocean Ridge. In addition, Boynton Beach has lower costs to service Briny Breezes, he says. Briny residents don’t have meters on their homes. The town is billed for three meters that serve the entire population. In Ocean Ridge, however, Boynton Beach has to read and bill some 800 meters by Bennett’s guess.
Water was among the escalating costs that led Briny Breezes to adopt a head-turning millage rate for its budget, assessing residents $10 per $1,000 of home value for municipal taxes. The town said it adopted the high rate because it didn’t know at the time how much water and services, including police protection, would cost.
“So our millage rate to cover all eventualities is coming to pass,” Bennett said at the December meeting.
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