A new bill from District 1 state Sen. Doug Broxson would create a new entity to govern and expand water and sewer service in the central and northern parts of Santa Rosa County.
“Frankly, it’s just time for us to grow up and be the county that we’re going to be in the next ten years,” said Broxson, referring to the establishment of a North Santa Rosa County Utilities Authority as a logical next step in a county that has grown to about 200,000 people and counting. “And, to do that, you’ve got to provide dependable, reliable, affordable infrastructure, and that’s exactly what this bill intends to do.”
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The local bill was presented by Sen. Broxson and approved to move forward at the Santa Rosa County Legislative Delegation public hearing last week.
He says a single governmental entity could streamline what is now a hodgepodge approach to utility services in the county.
“We have three, wastewater utilities in the north end: Milton, Pace, and Jay,” he began. “And we have more than 10 water-distribution co-ops. They work independently of each other, and there's really no oversight. The county could oversee them, but they choose not to because it's just been a tradition in Santa Rosa.”
In a county divided by water, a centralized authority would be established in part for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, improving, expanding, operating, and providing water, sewer, and additional utilities within Santa Rosa north of the Yellow River, Escambia Bay, and East Bay, and adjacent areas. At this point, south Santa Rosa communities are not included.
If signed into law, the measure would establish an initial governing body consisting of seven members to include representatives of local city and county governmental entities such as the Santa Rosa Board of Commissioners, City of Milton, and City of Jay. Additionally, Pace Water System, Northwest Florida Water Management District, the UF-IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center, and the Homebuilders Association of West Florida would be represented.
“Well, the authority will really be a study initially to see how we could incorporate services into one accounting (mechanism),” said Broxson in reference to the smaller, community-level utilities now in operation. “Whether they'll all be owned by the authority is yet to be determined, but certainly there should be some accountability of how these services are being delivered.”
Duties of the initial authority will include an assessment of current and future water and wastewater needs for the proposed service area and to develop a 10-year plan.
Those members would serve for about two years, then make way for an elected board starting in 2026.
“We would elect five permanent board members that would be subject to a four-year term, and we'd have a director very similar to what we have in Escambia County,” he explained. “It would be a way that we begin to manage this enormous challenge that we're going to have for the next 20 or 30 years.”
Over time, the establishment of a North Santa Rosa County Utilities Authority is expected to provide the capacity for more homes to tap into a sewer system, which would reduce the number of septic tanks in the county.
“There was a bill that was proposed in 2012, that would have said every septic tank had to have some kind of an inspection every ten years that failed; it actually passed, and it was repealed the next year because the pushback was so great,” Broxson said. “But Santa Rosa, at that point, per capita, had more septic tanks than any county in the state.”
According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, a 2021 Florida Water Management Inventory of wastewater in Santa Rosa County showed nearly 44% of parcels were known or likely to have septic tanks, with a virtually even percentage of parcels built for sewer.
By comparison, Escambia County had nearly 73% of parcels on sewer and about 22% on septic. The breakdown in Okaloosa County was about 66% sewer compared to 15.4% septic. The 2021 data showed Walton County behind on both fronts with 38% septic parcels and nearly 35% sewer parcels.
“So, it's an issue,” declared Broxson, pointing to septic tanks as a significant source of groundwater pollution. “It's not as big an issue when you're dealing with farmland, but when you're dealing around, creeks and streams, and rivers and aquifers, it's a big issue, especially if they're not being maintained.”
In putting forth the legislation, Broxson said people should have the right and privilege to connect to a sewer utility. And, he believes the creation of a governmental authority that covers most of the county will go a long way toward making that happen.
“Right now, we depend on very small local governments to try to leverage the tremendous expense of pipes and lift stations and, all the infrastructure it requires to do that,” began the senator. “When you have a larger footprint, you can draw down monies that you could not otherwise draw down, from not only the state, but we have the federal component. We have Restore, which is a part of the BP settlement. And, we have Triumph (Gulf Coast).”
Now that the Santa Rosa County Legislative Delegation has signed off on the local bill, the next step is for the measure to be introduced in the House, by delegation membersAlex Andradeor Joel Rudman. From there, it will be heard in committee, and then go on to the Senate, which approves local bills with a blanket vote, unless there’s opposition.
