PSL's $24M Waste Pro Windfall Bypasses Renters Who Also Paid the Price

PORT ST. LUCIE — When the city of Port St. Lucie voted Monday night to distribute its $24 million Waste Pro settlement through property tax credits, it made a choice that will benefit every homeowner in the city — and leave every renter out.

The decision, approved by the Port St. Lucie City Council, routes the settlement funds through the tax roll rather than issuing direct checks. City spokesman Scott Samples framed it as the most efficient path forward. "Ultimately the goal is to make the best decision possible," Samples told WPTV.

But efficiency for government is inequity for renters.

Port St. Lucie's renter population — which accounts for roughly one-third of the city's occupied housing units Officials said — paid for trash service just as homeowners did, either directly through city utility billing or indirectly through rents that landlords used to cover property-related costs. When Waste Pro failed to collect garbage during and after the pandemic, piling refuse on their yards and curbs, they lived through the same stench and frustration.

"It would just be a stinky mess on their yard," resident Kelly Lee told WPTV. "They didn't pick up, and it's overflowing."

Lee, a homeowner, raised equity concerns of her own at Monday's meeting — pointing out that former residents who have since left the city also won't see a dime. "They were here during that time, they've since moved, so where does their fair share go?" she said.

City records indicate the $24 million will be distributed on a per-property basis through a credit applied to upcoming property tax bills Officials said. That mechanism, by design, flows to property owners — not to the tenants who occupy those properties. Whether landlords will pass any credit through to renters is a private business decision the city has no mechanism to require or track.

The council also voted not to reimburse the city's general fund for prior emergency solid waste expenses incurred during the Waste Pro failure — a decision that effectively keeps more money in the settlement pool for distribution but offers no remedy for the exclusion of renters.

Mayor Shannon Martin expressed commitment to residents getting paid back. "I'm committed to making sure that our residents get paid back for what they had to deal with during that time," she said in April after the settlement was announced. The council did not publicly address Monday whether renters qualify as "residents" under its distribution framework, and city officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether direct-check alternatives were fully modeled before the vote According to initial reports,.

The decision lands at a fraught moment for Treasure Coast renters. St. Lucie County has been flagged in recent analyses as among Florida's riskiest real estate markets, with housing affordability pressure intensifying. A separate report on Florida's proposed homestead exemption expansion warns that shielding more property value from taxation tends to shift the overall tax burden toward renters — who hold no homestead and absorb higher rents as landlords recoup costs elsewhere.

Nationally, the rental market is softening in Sun Belt cities with new apartment construction. But local supply conditions on the Treasure Coast lag that trend, and the relief has not uniformly reached Port St. Lucie-area renters Officials said.

Port St. Lucie settled its legal dispute with Waste Pro — its former contracted trash hauler — after both parties sued each other in 2021. The city alleged breach of contract; Waste Pro cited pandemic-era labor shortages. The $24 million figure represents one of the larger municipal service settlements in recent St. Lucie County history Officials said.

Resident Lee put the challenge plainly before the vote: "One size can't fit all."

The city council chose a single size anyway.

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