WEDGEFIELD, Fla. – Residents in one Orange County community say their water bills just keep rising, and they want the county to step in and take over the water system for that area.
Phillip Unser and his wife have lived here in the Wedgefield community of Orange County since 2004. He told me they’re tired of seeing their water bill increase.
“Every 2-3 years there’s always a rate increase,” he said. “We have to have somebody do something.”
Unser said living on a fixed income, the increases are tough. He said he got this letter recently from his private water company Pluris, showing his water bill could soon increase by more than 45%.
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“My average price is around $130 and it would Jack my price up to around $260,” said Unser.
He said he’s already had to put in place a salt system and a water filter system to save money and to have more clean water.
Unser was one of many of his neighbors who spoke at Tuesday’s county commission meeting, asking Orange County to take over their utilities instead of their current water company, Pluris.
It’s something residents have been asking for for years.
“It’s a system that’s old, and it probably needs a lot of repair,” said Tim Armstrong, deputy director for Orange County Utilities.
Armstrong spoke at Tuesday’s Orange County Commission meeting before the board approved more than $83,000 for a full appraisal of the current Pluris water system. He said It’s the third phase in deciding if the county could acquire the water and wastewater system in the Wedgefield area, which currently has more than 1,700 homes in Orange County.
“They have a private utility, and we believe that private utility is taking advantage of them, and we are empathetic to what they’re going through,” said Armstrong.
“We need Orange to help control that price,” said Unser.
Armstrong said it’s too soon to know if they will in fact acquire the utility services for the Wedgefield area. He said there would have to be more steps and more board approval on how to move forward.
News 6 has reached out to Pluris for a comment and we have not heard back.
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