092410_oposision

News Articles

Opposition to septic inspection law grows

Panama City News Herald, September 23, 2010

PANAMA CITY — If it doesn’t stink, don’t fix it.

Local officials say that’s the feedback they’ve received from residents opposed to a new state law that will require septic tank inspections every five years, regardless of the age or functionality of the system.

“We’ve got people in the government now who think I’m not smart enough to take care of my own septic tank,” said Kam Mayner, who has lived in the county, on South Lagoon Drive, for about 20 years. “If there is a problem, you get it fixed.”

Mayner, who is retired and lives on a fixed income, is worried he won’t be able to afford state-mandated inspections and any subsequent upgrades to his 30-year-old septic tank. He could be affected by the new law, signed by the governor in June, as early as January, Bay County Health Department Administrator Doug Kent said.

Kent’s office has been tasked with implementing the law. He’ll start by sending notices to owners of the oldest tanks first but, Kent said, “it'll touch everybody eventually.”

The health department will be hit with administrative costs, and Kent expects his office to get tangled up in expensive lawsuits, but homeowners likely will be stuck with the biggest bill, he said.

They’ll have to pay for the inspections, which typically run between about $800 and $1,400, Kent said.

Crews will have to complete a soil analysis to ensure the septic system isn’t seeping into the water table, which the bill was designed to protect. Workers also will dig up the tank, pump it to make sure it’s structurally sound, check top and side filters for clogs, and make sure there are no cracks, fissures or roots burrowing into the tank.

Although the health department issues permits for and installs new tanks, performs maintenance on existing tanks and responds to complaints about faulty tanks, Kent’s crews won’t be doing the inspections. Septic tank companies will.

“I personally think that’s like the fox watching the henhouse,” Kent said. “This is how they make their living and they’re making a judgment?”

County commissioners also called the law overreaching.

“Even if you could enforce it, it’s unnecessary,” Commissioner Mike Thomas said. “People can tell when a septic tank is not working properly.”

Commissioner George Gainer, who estimated the measure might affect as much as 40 percent of Bay County residents, pointed to strict specifications property owners must meet when applying for a septic tank permit.

“They’re tested before you even get the permit to move in,” Gainer said. “Then they’ve got to go through this inspection, typically, to find out there's no problem.”

Kent said, in 30 years of working with septic tanks, he’d only seen one tank that was “full of solids.”

“So, to me, a five-year cycle is too short,” he said. “Ten years is more acceptable for pump outs.”

State Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, sponsored a bill calling for 10-year inspections in the spring but pulled it after his constituents criticized the proposal. Patronis said he voted against the new five-year law, which was part of a bill sponsored by Sen. Lee Constantine, a Republican from Altamonte Springs.

“I couldn’t support it — it was more than what I was even proposing, and my folks here in Northwest Florida don’t like the idea,” Patronis said. “And there’s a fine line between being responsible and getting into people's pockets.”

Marti Coley, R-Marianna, also opposed the bill, as did a local septic tank company.

“We are in agreement with the commission regarding the expense to homeowners every 5 years,” J. Nelson Jones of J.R.'s Environmental Consulting wrote in an e-mail to commissioners. “We think it is a bit intrusive on the government's part as well.”

Jones pointed out, however, that pump outs will not be required for septic systems five years old or less.

“In our case, this inspection would cost the homeowner $75 plus the health department certification fee,” he wrote.

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, voted in favor of the measure but said, if he’d known then what he knows now, he “absolutely” would have voted against it.

“Not to be discourteous, but the sponsor of the bill was less than forthright in answering questions regarding the specific impact of this small section of a very large bill,” Gaetz said. “As a result, there were a number of us who took the sponsor at his word and later discovered that his explanation was not complete.”

Gaetz said he is working with a group of legislators, including Coley, to either modify or repeal the mandate. Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, and Rep. Greg Evers, R-Milton, also sent a letter to the governor Thursday asking for a postponement in the bill’s implementation.

Commissioners and health department officials will continue to send letters to legislators expressing their opposition to the bill, Kent said.

“You know, laws can be changed,” he added. “I’m going to drag my feet as long as possible, hoping we'll have some kind of softening of the blow.”