St. Pete Beach homeowner receives nearly $14,000 water bill
ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - A St. Pete Beach resident received a nearly $14,000 water bill back in January. It comes as extremely high water bills continue to stack up following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
The backstory:
FOX 13 has reported about the unexplained bills coming from St. Petersburg, but dozens of county residents also said their water bills skyrocketed too, sometime after the hurricanes. Some aren't even in their homes.
RELATED: 2 lawsuits filed over St. Petersburg’s high water bills, city provides relief to homeowners
Local perspective:
Donald Nalty’s St. Pete Beach home did not flood during Hurricane Helene, but he’s convinced the water meter outside his home – soaking in salty floodwater – is causing the inexplicable readings. He’s now hired an attorney to deal with the bill.
"I couldn't believe what I was reading," said Nalty.
An unbelievable water bill for $13,872 arrived at his St. Pete Beach home in January, and the bill said he used more than half a million gallons of water in December.
"I wouldn't have a house. I'd have a boat," he said.
For context, he said his pool uses 13,000 gallons of water.
"I would have to fill up my pool 40 times in two months, because this two-month bill, were 40 times. It takes two days to fill the pool," he said.
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He said his calls to Pinellas County’s water department went nowhere.
"[They said] ‘You need to get a plumber and or a specialist out to test your property.’ So we did. Plumber came out, wrote a letter to Pinellas County Utilities, that wasn't good enough," he said. "So then they told me I had to get a specialist. I got a specialist to come out here and same results. There's no problem with my property."
It's why he's hired an attorney to help him deal with the issue.
READ: High water bills: St. Pete leaders vote to stop late fees, water shut offs after resident complaints
"I’m not paying it. Don't pay it. I mean, they're we're paying them for a service. They're not providing accurate service. Basically, they're stealing from us," he said.
Why you should care:
Nalty believes the meter was impacted by the floodwaters, but said that no one from the county has come to his property to investigate the issue.
"All of this area was inundated with saltwater. These meters are not meant to be submerged in saltwater for a period of time," he said.
The other side:
Pinellas County told FOX 13 it started a registry for people with utility issues.
"We created a registry of impacted customers, so we can work with each customer to address their unique billing and utility issues resulting from the storms," said a Pinellas County spokesperson. "Customers on the registry will have an additional 18 months to work with us to resolve those issues."
Pinellas County Commissioner Vince Nowicki is tracking water bill problems, and he said there isn’t a "mass" problem with the meters. Nowicki said 1,485 people are on the utility registry to get an adjustment, and so far, they’ve given back $122,000 to people with leaks.
READ: Homeowner gets $6,000 water bill amid irregular bills in St. Pete
After FOX 13 reached out to Nowicki Friday afternoon, Nalty got a call.
"Thirty minutes before you got here, somebody from the county did call me and said that his supervisor would come out on Monday to take a look at the problem," said Nalty.
What you can do:
The county said residents with high water bills should reach out to get on the registry by March 1. To do that, click here.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered through an interview with Donald Nalty, a St. Pete Beach resident faced with a high water bill, as well as information from Pinellas County. This story also contains information from previous reports from FOX 13.
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