5 years. $740 Million. Is that even enough?
After two major historic storms visited St. Petersburg, we are still in the beginning stages of assessing damages, and costs. Some homeowners are hopeful to rebuild, others besides themselves with grief and despair, many deciding to sell and leave. Businesses are doing their own ROI about costs. And as a city we’re working to re-group, assess infrastructure and see what we can do better next time. Because there will be a next time.
Mayor Welch’s immediate response is that he now wants to spend $740 million on resiliency and mitigation projects over the next five years; presumably to protect all of us from flooding and keeping our water and sewer systems running when it happens again.
And while that sounds good, where’s all this new money coming from? As a city, we need a full accounting of where things stand. What funding commitments have been made, and what priorities require shifting now as a result of these historic storms.
Our city council met Oct. 31 and is scheduled to meet again Nov. 7, with a meeting scheduled on Nov. 21 to discuss issuing bonds that will help pay for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium. And while the mayor says damages from Milton have no impact on those plans, where’s the evidence?
“We’ve dedicated $740 million over the next five years for resiliency and mitigation projects,” Welch added. “I plan to ask the council to increase that amount to meet the need.” https://t.co/cYxpU4PIzi via @stpetecatalyst
— Mark Allen Parker (@Marks__Musings) October 25, 2024
If we’re being realistic, it’s likely that $740 million over 5 years is just scratching the surface of what’s really needed to harden and build resiliency for our new climate challenges.
We just got hit by two major hurricanes. After the first one, no one thought there could be a second one. Now everyone is worried that the third and fourth hurricane will be coming – and maybe soon. A lot can happen in 5 years.
What about the other $5 billion of water, sewer, and stormwater repairs that we already knew that we needed to make before the storms hit – as presented on April 11, 2024 to the city’s Public Services and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Council Member Lisset Hanewicz? Where are the plans to source those funds and should that work be escalated?
And where’s the mayor’s new $740 million ask going to come from? What other priorities are going to be left behind? Or how much are our taxes and utilities going to go up?
Can we really still afford to borrow almost $700 million (with interest) to build a new baseball stadium? Or should we prudently and urgently change course and spend that money so we can sleep at night.
What if we get hit by a hurricane again next year? How many more people are going to lose their homes? And for how long won’t we be able to drink the water or flush our toilets next time?
The Major is right… these storms are a wakeup call. We need to reset our priorities and focus on what matters – sooner rather than later.
