What You Should Know!

Public / Private Partnership to develop parking spaces in swales. In my last article I wrote that parking spaces developed in swales should not be dedicated to a specific business, but should be dedicated to public parking to alleviate the City’s parking problem. If parking spaces are dedicated to a specific business that would maintain the present parking problem. Why do I say that, because those businesses that are restaurants would now use those parking credit to increase their number of seats? Example, restaurant receiving a 12 parking space credit developed in swale; City code allows restaurant 4 seats per parking space, hence they will increase their seating by 48 seats, negating a solution to the parking problem.

Current Utility Rate Structure. I have written four articles explaining the inequities in our current rate structure. I will address low volume water users in three customer classes, Single Family Homes, Individually Metered Condominiums and Commercial. There are approximately 3,000 customers in this category that use less than 5,100 gallons of water monthly. The current Rate Structure Base Charge for Water and Sewer is $62.43 per month. Had this City Council approved the proposed Rate Structure, the Base Charge for Water and Sewer would be $34.89 per month. That would have resulted in a reduction of the monthly base charge by $27.54; a 44% reduction. The rate structure has been a contentious item since we became a City and council does not want to upset the apple cart, therefore they continue to kick the can down the road and let the low volume users subsidize the high volume users.

Respectfully submitted,

Amadeo Petricca

Marco Island