By the Coral Gables Gazette editorial board
When residents of Coral Gables gathered this week to hear the city’s latest presentation on its $400 million Septic-to-Sewer Master Plan, they expected numbers, not uncertainty. What they heard instead was a set of preliminary cost estimates with no timeline, no committed funding source, and no clear explanation of who would pay. It was not the price tag alone that shocked homeowners — it was the absence of a plan behind it.
Public Works Director Hermes Díaz told residents that converting the entire city from septic to sewer could cost approximately $400 million, but that whether the project proceeds “in a couple of years, or five or ten” will depend on when funding becomes available. That uncertainty has become the heart of public frustration. The city’s consultants provided basin-by-basin estimates ranging from roughly $29,000 to more than $50,000 per household — before the additional $16,000 average cost to remove an existing septic tank and connect to the new line. Díaz was clear that the numbers were only preliminary and could rise or fall with market conditions. Residents, however, focused on the bottom line. For them, this was not an abstract figure — it was a mortgage-sized expense with no repayment plan.
When a public initiative rests on projections without process, the result is predictable and understandable: sticker shock, mistrust and the perception that government is leading with a price rather than a path. Coral Gables is not alone in confronting the environmental and public-health imperative of replacing aging septic systems. But most communities that succeed in doing so — from Key Biscayne to parts of Miami-Dade — begin with a transparent financing roadmap. They explain how much will be covered by state or federal grants, what portion will be financed through long-term bonds, and how much will ultimately reach homeowners.
Coral Gables, by contrast, has started with a spreadsheet rather than a structure. The city has the technical framework — a comprehensive master plan and environmental rationale — but no financial scaffolding to hold it up. Without that, even the best data becomes destabilizing. City officials have emphasized that the plan remains in an exploratory phase and that grant options are being pursued. Yet every presentation without a funding strategy risks turning public engagement into public anxiety. The city’s consultants have given residents the “how much,” but not the “how.” That omission has transformed a conversation about infrastructure into one about credibility.
The heart of this issue is not money but trust. Coral Gables residents attend meetings, ask informed questions and care deeply about the long-term health of their community. But engagement without clarity breeds fatigue. The city owes its residents more than cost estimates — it owes them a financial framework they can evaluate and debate. Transparency is the first form of accountability. If the city expects homeowners to bear a share of the cost, it must also show that it is exhausting every grant and financing option before passing that burden along. Each step — from grant application to design phase — should be published and publicly tracked.
A project of this scale requires not just engineering but empathy: an acknowledgment that families facing $50,000 assessments are not resisting environmental progress, but reacting to financial uncertainty. Every city eventually faces a reckoning between the infrastructure it needs and the resources it can afford. Coral Gables is now at that crossroads. A sustainable future requires collective investment, but it also demands transparent leadership. The city has the opportunity to model responsible governance — to replace confusion with clarity, and sticker shock with steady planning.
Before the next meeting, officials should release a financing framework, even if preliminary. It should specify grant targets, potential state partnerships, and funding ratios between public and private costs. Residents have already shown they are willing to listen; now the city must prove it is willing to lead. Infrastructure is not built with blueprints alone. It is built on trust, transparency, and the shared belief that public good should never depend on private uncertainty.
This Post Has 6 Comments
Planning for this of course needs to happen. And yes, there will be a cost borne by the residents.
I have been in this situation before moving to Coral Gables. It is simply a bond issue that everyone will be asked to pay as part of their taxes. It is not in my opinion a Yes or No vote. It is something that it is needed. We are not a third world country, and in some cases, they have a better infrastructure than we do.
Back in the early 2000s, a new community was going up in a rural area. Houses, town homes, apartments and commercial. The area needed water and sewer. The county imposed a tax on each property being sold. That tax was like a special assessment. You wanted to live in a shiny new development and area, it was tagged as part of you annual tax bill. We purchased a beautiful townhome which we later sold.
Same can be done here. Now, I will tell you that with the amount of back room deals in Miami-Dade and in particular cities like Coral Gables, this project will extend to many years and costs to exceed budgets.
I would engage with other cities as well as the county and learn from their experiences, document what worked, what did not and get names of those contractors. Build a plan and estimate a budget. And when awarding work, make it Fix Price.
As far as the additional $16k to remove the old tank, that is ludicrous, you don’t have to, you just bypass.
My wife and I are 100% in favor. We know the benefits.
Totally agree. We need a bond issue and this needs to happen. Stop kicking the ball down the road.
Any meaningful cost/benefit analysis includes timing and other ancillary costs/benefits. In addition to providing information on timing and the allocation of payment between funding sources and the ability to finance this conversion, there should also be a discussion on related ancillary costs – street closings, construction in your yard, the effect on waste during the conversion and required remedial landscaping. I am not sure if the City has anything more right now than a goal with some estimated numbers. The lack of information makes it impossible for residents to make a meaningful cost/benefit decision as to any conversion from septic to sewer. If you want residents to make a decision, then provide the necessary information.
Like countless others, I simply could not financially afford to convert to what the EPA has identified, in many instances, as a worse polluting, leaking sewer option regularly closing our beaches our bay and badly mismanaged by the county. I refuse to lose my home over such an irrational, hypothetical idea of stealing $80,000+++ that I don’t have. I will not ever allow the government to place a LIEN on my home or force-finance exponential six-figures +++ assessments on my property taxes.
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I am not convinced levying an outrageous property tax burden that would force many residents out of their homes is a prudent means of representing the fine people of Coral Gables.
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Therefore, we request every elected representative commissioner to reject any more of these nonsensical, “hypothetical ideas or meetings” — until:
*A) the federal government and
*B) the state of Florida have formulated a comprehensive financial plan in the respective legislatures for the State’s two-million working septic systems, and Miami-Dade County’s 130,000 functioning septic systems.
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And most importantly:
A) the federal government,
B) the State of Florida, and
C) Miami-Dade County and all 34 municipalities
have budgeted and allocated the HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS necessary to ever consider such a non-starter “hypothetical idea”. Otherwise, such a ridiculous idea would force countless residents and families out of their homes.
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Most are aware that this will never happen in our lifetime. . . UNTIL all of the above happens (A, B, C) at the Federal and State and County levels. . . You, our local Gables elected representatives, will never have a half-a-billion dollars budgeted to force residents into the mismanaged, leaking sewer under federal consent decree.
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And exponentially increasing property taxes on residents is not an option.
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And forced-financing six-figures +++ property assessments on families is not an option.
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And placing a LIEN on homes is not an option.
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And forcing families out of their homes is not an option.
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Move on elected representatives (to much more important matters) until ALL the above happens.
As always, transparency is a key issue and can we start with the data or study that shows Coral Gables sewer systems are not aligned with the Clean Water Act and contributing or having a negative effect on ground water or water table quality. Or is the City having trouble aligning storm water discharge with the CWA and is that the motivation on this issue. A solid point was also made on the existing MD sewer infrastructure having capacity to add the entire City’s waste? CG has been on septic since inception and let’s start with transparency on the background data to sell this issue to the residents.
We all want progress. Before we’re asked to support converting from septic to sewer, we deserve real answers. A true cost-benefit look isn’t just numbers. It’s about timing, funding, financing, and the impact on our daily lives — road closures, yard work, waste management, and cleanup. These are real issues that affect real people- the residents. Right now, all we’ve been given are goals and rough estimates. That’s not enough. We can’t make responsible decisions without the full picture and we shouldn’t have to guess. Give us facts, and transparency. This is about our homes, our families, and our community. About the future of Coral Gables- The City Beautiful.