BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A week after your Port St. John Community Correspondent James Sparvero reported that homeowners on one side of Fay Boulevard could have to spend up to $100,000 to connect to the sewer line on the opposite side of the four-lane divided highway, Brevard County just mailed homeowners a new letter that no longer threatens to fine them or restrict services if they don’t make the long connection in the next year.
While it’s still the law to get homes off septic tanks, which the county says is better for the environment, the new letter reads, “It is not the county’s intent to impose an unreasonable financial burden on property owners based on the costs currently being quoted.”
Coverage of what was going to be a huge burden for homeowners started when Rosemary Augustine contacted Sparvero through the News 6 Neighborhood Network.
“We’re talking $60 to $100,000 per homeowner,” Augustine said on March 5.
After that initial interview ran, now the county says it will “explore potential grant funding and other financial assistance opportunities that may help offset connection costs for property owners in the future.”
“There’s some older homes on Fay. I don’t know if the home values are even worth what it would cost to connect,” plumber Jeff Rice said.
Augustine said she only qualified for a $12,000 grant through the county’s Save Our Indian River Lagoon program.
“Not even three years ago, I had a brand-new septic system for $10,000,” she said. “For me to have to lay out additional monies, that’s a little bit of a stretch.”
Augustine said she’d still like to see the county bring the connection to her side of the street, and Sparvero has been meaning to ask the county if it will do that, but like last week, no one wanted be interviewed for this update either.
There’s no timeframe when homeowners might get more financial assistance, so stick with News 6 and ClickOrlando.com to continue to stay on top of this story to tell you what happens next.