By Roger Jimenez, Interning Correspondent for The Apopka Voice
Apopka residents could soon face steep penalties for tampering with water meters. Under the new amendment, the first offense carries a $250 fine, the second offense increases the penalty to $500, and a third offense would result in the termination of all utility services.
The move follows weeks of resident frustration over faulty meters and rising water utility costs.
Finance Director Blanche Sherman introduced the amendment during the October 1st Apopka City Council meeting, prompting several questions from the council regarding how the fines would be applied.
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Commissioner Nick Nesta raised concerns about whether the fines might unfairly affect residents during emergencies.
“So what happens if a resident has a flood in their house and their valve that's on their side is broken. They can't find it, it's buried, but they know the valve is there. So we're going to fine them if they turn off the water to the house while it's flooding?” Nesta asked.
“I don't think that's tampering with the meter, you’re talking about the connection,” said Sherman.
“Well it says valves. I know the difference between meters and valves and it says valves… Now that it’s brought to light, how do we work through that issue? Are we going to fine someone for turning off their water during a flood?” Nesta said.
“I don’t think that would be appropriate.” Sherman responded.
Nesta also questioned whether developers would be subject to the same fines, sparking confusion over how the amendment defines “tampering.”
“A lot of these issues came up because of developers switching valves or switching meters, cutting and splicing meters to kind of keep things moving, correct?”
“No, what the developers are doing is a different situation. This is [in regards to] the customers. Developers are relocating meters," Sherman said.
“Which is tampering,” Nesta said.
“Again, that’s a different situation… when we use those terms, we are referring to the customer that is slicing, splitting the wires and all of that,” Sherman replied.
“I think what Mr. Nesta’s saying is correct,” Mayor Bryan Nelson interjected. “If we get a builder out there, that’s got five houses, and they've got the complete set, which is the valve meter and the flex net on top. And house #1 doesn't settle. You go to house #5 that we just sold, and they take their flex net off of #1 and put it on #5, that's tampering.”
“But we’re already charging [the developers] for that. We talked about going back and establishing a fee to charge them for that,” Sherman said.
“Yes, but they would still be eligible for this fine,” Interim City Administrator Radley Williams noted.
“So that is included in this?” Nesta asked.
“We can if you want to apply it to the developers. I’m only sharing with you what the focus was in regards to the customer.” Sherman said.
“I think developers should be held to a higher rate than customers.” Commissioner Alexander Smith added.
City Attorney Cliff Shepard clarified that the amendment merely grants the city the authority to impose fines, while specific fine structures—such as higher penalties for developers—would be determined in a future resolution.
Nesta also questioned whether the fines would apply to homeowners or tenants. Shepard explained that penalties are generally issued to homeowners unless tenants hold their own utility accounts or have lease agreements specifying responsibility.
Nesta also asked how the fines would help residents save on their bills.
“This is supposed to bring down our water bills somehow. Do we have an estimate of what the savings might be, or the income that's going to bring to us?”
“Not at this time, but even though it may increase revenue, we're also trying to discourage it. We don't want this to happen because it's still costly. So we're trying to discourage it as well.” Sherman replied.
But Apopka residents wondered why the city wanted to implement fines at all.
“When you circumvent the meters… It's a criminal offense. Energy doesn’t decide who might or might not have been involved in the crime; they leave it to the police to prosecute it. What you're doing is setting yourself up as Judge and Jury to decide who is guilty or not guilty of tampering.
If you feel that's a good investment of the city’s time and effort, that's fine, but there already exists a way for you to take legal action against anyone who tampers with a water meter. So why are you doing it? You just want more authority,” said Apopka resident Albert McKimmie.
“Why is there a need for this? How many meters have been tampered with? Do we have a count? Because the last time I heard, we're taking estimates on the meters, so who's actually going out and finding this damage? Wouldn’t this be a better time to figure out how we're going to start a process of actually doing meter readings? …I would like to know how many reports you have of tampered meters that have become an issue we have to bring to the floor. How are you going to prove who did what?” said local resident Sylverster Hall.
After a lengthy discussion, the motion was approved 4 to 1 with Nesta in opposition.
