By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Bronson Town Manager Susan Beaudet said Monday her research has revealed that Bronson has the lowest utility tax rate of any city in Levy County and her findings will be presented to the town council at the Feb. 7 meeting.
For the past 30 years, Bronson has levied a 5 percent utility tax on electric, natural gas, fuel oil, and things of that nature, but a Florida state law now allows the town to impose a tax up to 10 percent with a majority vote of the council.
Beaudet informed council members at their Jan. 24 board meeting she learned about the potential for raising the utility tax when a tax data company informed her that Bronson’s utility tax hadn’t been raised in 30 years.
Two council members, Jason Hunt and Aaron Edmondson, said they were opposed to raising the tax and Mayor Robert Partin said he wasn’t pushing the idea of a higher tax but wanted to know how much other cities were levying.
“Let it ride,” said Hunt, indicating he wanted to leave the current 5 percent tax in place.
“I’m going along with Councilman Jason. Let it ride,” Edmondson said. “Times are hard for a lot of people.”
Beaudet told Spotlight she isn’t pushing the idea of a higher tax, but the facts show Bronson’s tax hasn’t been raised since 1991.
“We’re the lowest in Levy County. Most municipalities are at the full 10 percent,” she said.
Bronson’s 5 percent tax has one added feature. All the utilities are capped at a $5 maximum charge. That means someone with a $100 electric bill is already being assessed the maximum charge of $5.
Beaudet told council members the town doesn’t have to levy the full 10 percent. She said it could add 1 percent or 2 percent, whatever the council wants to do.
Well, Well…
In other business at the Jan 24 meeting, the council voted to pay $28,938 for refurbishing one of the city’s well pumps and $26,900 for refurbishing the second pump. Both will function at maximum capacity when the work is finished, with both pumping 500 gallons per minute.
Beaudet had advertised for contractors in five different newspapers but received only one response from the company that already works with the city on well pump issues. Town Attorney Steven Warm said the advertising was legitimate with one bid received from Southeast Drilling LLC of Tallahassee.
One of the wells is currently pumping 200 gallons per minute and the other 400 gallons per minute. Water pressure for fighting fires is well below what is needed in some areas of town, according to Fire Chief Dennis Russell.
Public Works Director Curtis Stacy said refurbishing the wells means the city won’t need a new well.
Hunt corrected him, pointing out that the refurbished water wells won’t solve the problem at the city’s new firehouse north of town on U.S. 27A. The town has equipped the building with a fire suppression sprinkler system that requires more water than the city can supply. The fire station is more than a mile away from the city’s existing wells. The town is talking about drilling a well for the fire station using the existing $1.8 million of state appropriations for construction of the facility to drill a new 12-inch diameter well.
Tall Grass
The town council tabled amending one of its ordinances that allows grass to grow to a maximum height of 42 inches.
Beaudet introduced a revised ordinance that would require grass to be kept at a maximum height of a foot, but questions were raised about why the town would want to allow grass on a lawn to grow that high.
The revised ordinance said the grass growing within 25 feet of a street or a neighboring property, or within 25 feet of a home, would have to be kept at 12 inches, but questions were also raised as to why the ordinance wouldn’t require keeping grass mowed much shorter on the entire lawn.
Cutting Slack
Council members voted to give Hudson Foods until the end of April to plant cold-sensitive landscape shrubbery at the Hardees/Jiffy store site rather than requiring the company to follow town requirements and plant now.
Hudson Foods was concerned about planting in the current cold weather. The company is required to plant landscaping when the building is complete, but doing so would subject the plants to freezing temperatures at night.
The motion to cut Hudson Foods slack on when the landscaping is planted included a deadline of April 30 to ensure the company follows through on landscaping requirements.
Water Study
Partin said a partnership of Bronson, Cedar Key, Otter Creek, and the Suwannee River Water Management Districting are going forward with a study to determine how water could be transferred to Cedar Key and Otter Creek from Bronson. The water district is doing the study.
Partin said he also met on Jan. 19th with Cedar Key officials and representatives of the Nature Coast Regional Water Authority to determine how the Authority handles water transfers.
The Authority made it possible for Fanning Springs to transfer and sell water to Old Town, an unincorporated town on the north side of the Suwannee River in Dixie County. Old Town had arsenic in its drinking water from former wood processing activities.
Cedar Key and Otter Creek have central water systems in their cities but water quality continues to be a problem in both municipalities. Both cities would like to purchase water from Bronson. There is also talk of extending sewer lines to both cities as well as a water line.
Many questions need to be answered before any water can be transferred. The study would determine how the project could be funded, if it can be done, who would pay, if grant money is available, where the site of the water pumping would occur and if Bronson would make any money off the deal, among others.
Bronson has had its own water supply issues lately. Three water main breaks in the town over the past couple of weeks, due in part to the age of the system and the fact that many pipes were built under streets and sidewalks, have raised questions about whether the town needs to fix its own water supply pipes before it attempts to pump water to neighboring cities.
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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting January 24, 2022; Posted January 31, 2022
