SUMTER COUNTY, Florida. – On Tuesday, people came to the Sumter County Commission meeting to protest the Florida Governmental Authority (FGUA).

The authority wants to build a sewage treatment plant in Lake Panasoffkee, but the people who live here say no.

“It’s a disgrace. It’s horrific. It’s a farce and we don’t want that,” said one resident.

The commission had scheduled a public hearing to discuss the wastewater project. Then it made an unexpected announcement to the crowd.

“They will stop all further work on this project at this point, so this project is not feasible without the grants,” said a commissioner.

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Many participants in the meeting stood up and cheered when they learned that the project was on hold due to a lack of funding. However, people were not entirely satisfied.

“I realize there are delays now because they are not getting funding, but that means they will be back in a year. We don’t want it next year either,” one resident said during a public hearing.

One person I spoke to hopes the project gets the green light.

“If this project can be funded 90-100% through grants, I believe it will be a great thing for the system and the entire Lake Pan community,” said Caroline Campbell.

News 6 reporter Treasure Roberts asked her why she thought that.

“I got a contract for three properties on a canal. The septic systems on all three properties are not working,” Campbell said. “I think it would probably make more sense for the entire community if everyone switched to a centralized system rather than having the EPA inspect the septic systems.”

Opponents of this project said the group that conducted the study believed that septic tanks were damaging Lake Panasoffkee and that this was one of the reasons they wanted to modernize the sewer system.

“The whole thing about the sewage treatment plants to save the lake is a farce and not true at all,” said resident Russell.

Most people are against the sewerage project because they fear it will pollute the water, increase water bills and lead to undesirable development in rural areas.

News 6 reporter Treasure Roberts asked Sumter County Commissioner Jeff Bogue if they would make the final decision on whether the project would proceed.

“Our district attorney tells us we have no legal recourse to stop this,” Bogue said.

Debbie, a local resident who opposes the project, asked the county government what they could do to prevent this incident from happening again next year.

He suggested a meeting with the agency.

“FGUA is having its monthly board meeting and we decided we were going to go to that meeting and tell them we don’t want this,” Debbie said.

The FGUA meeting will take place on Thursday at 1 p.m.

News 6 reached out to the FGUA for more information on this issue and the FGUA responded as follows:

Q: Can you explain why the agency is not pursuing this at this time? Do you all plan to revisit this in the near future?

“Before embarking on the project, FGUA attempted to obtain leads on possible funding from the State Revolving Fund (SRF) Clean Water Program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Program. A formal funding review would require the submission of a facility plan to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and a preliminary technical report (PER) to the USDA. Since no funds were available for this work, state funding was sought with the assistance of the county and ultimately approved in the amount of $500,000. The FGUA Board of Directors adopted the corresponding grant funding agreement at its December 21, 2023 meeting and the associated work permits to perform the work at its January 18, 2024 meeting. Since then,

Both reports were then prepared and submitted to FDEP and USDA for an indication of funding feasibility later this month.

Unfortunately, FGUA has been informed that the project will not be considered for priority funding in this SRF funding cycle for the following reason:

The FDEP would prefer to receive more financial information on the assessed project alternatives

State officials would prefer to set up a special district to qualify for “debt forgiveness.”

The state would like to see a stronger commitment to supplemental funding from the USDA.

Given the strong competition and limited resources, the State will prioritize allocating funds to other projects that are getting closer to launch.

In light of this outcome, FGUA has concluded that the project is not currently financially viable and is discontinuing its efforts.

If permitted by the FGUA Board of Directors, FGUA may have further discussions with Sumter County staff regarding possible future options.”

Q: Many residents in this area are against the sewer project because they don’t want more development and higher water costs. What is your response to their objections?

“As we have communicated to residents, Sumter County controls land use. FGUA sought grants to reduce costs for residents. Since FGUA has not received any financial assistance, the program will not proceed.”

The Florida government agency

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