FIRE HYDRANT MAINTENANCE FEE

            As many of you know by watching or reading the news, our state and local governments are having a short-fall of money and thus are reducing their budgets.  As these budgets are cut, costs are being diverted to other sources such as Pace Water System.  We are now required to strip and resurface the entire width of roads, twenty feet each way for any cuts in a main road (main breaks, construction, etc) where we use to just patch.  This has cause a major cost for us (and developers) to bear.  Another example is that recreational areas (ball parks) will now have to pay for their own utilities. 

          The county now requires us to maintain the hydrants for fire protection.  The maintenance will include inspecting, repairing, painting, and replacing the hundreds of hydrants in our systems.  This will require us to employ two new persons along with obtaining and maintaining a utility truck and tools as well as parts/replacement hydrants.   Pace Water System has one of the highest customer to employee ratios in the area.  This means we have fewer employees for the amount of services that we provide than other utilities.  It would be impossible to provide the preventative maintenance on these hydrants and keep a high quality of service to our water, sewer, and reuse customers.  Also, we are currently going through a wastewater plant expansion and revise permitting through the Dept. of Environmental Protection.  This may require us to go from an 8 hour/day shift to 16 hours or 24 hours manned shifts and would require more employees. 

         While we will not dispute or debate the local government's actions on this website, we are merely trying to defray these costs.  The management and employees of Pace Water Systems are trying to be good stewards of the system's finances and are working hard to get the most value of every dollar.

SEPTEMBER 2007

             The Pace Water System, Inc. became incorporated in November of 1964.  The Articles of Incorporation state the nature of the business of the corporation and the objects and purposes which it was organized was to supply water for domestic, commercial, agricultural, and industrial uses.   This also included the equipment necessary for the construction, maintenance, and operation of a water system.  In summary, the Pace Water System main purpose was to provide pure and clean potable drinking water to its customers. 

No where in the documents does it state for fire protection, but hydrants were installed for the hydraulic flushing of the water mains as well as the convenience and protection of our customer’s residential and commercial dwellings.  Fire Departments were formed by volunteers of our community to fight the occasional fires that happen in our community.  This practice happened throughout history to our communities. 

Santa Rosa County formed an Emergency Services Advisory Committee (ESAC).  The Committee had several meetings with the participation of the Water Utilities in Santa Rosa that provide potable drinking water to all residents to discuss Fire Hydrant maintenance.  The Water Utilities came before the ESAC asking for help in maintaining the Hydrants because the majority of these utilities are small and do not have the man power to do the fire hydrant maintenance.  The committee and the county decided it was the responsibility of the Water Utilities to do the maintenance.  The Pace Water Board of directors made Fire Hydrant maintenance an item on its agenda for several months before making a decision and only after receiving a letter from the County Administrator stating that Pace Water was responsible for maintenance of its fire hydrants did the Board decide to charge the customers one dollar per month per customer to fund the maintenance of our Fire Hydrants.  Below is a copy of that letter:

NOTE:  The Board of Directors directed Staff to keep a separate accounting of income and revenues from the Maintenance Program and any excess funds collected  will be used to replace and install new fire hydrants.