Lakeland residents are sending city leaders a clear message: The city’s infrastructure isn’t keeping up.
Traffic congestion, flooding, aging systems, and inconsistent service surfaced as top concerns in a citywide survey with 5,270 responses. Commissioners say those frustrations match what they’re hearing across the community.
“If the number one concern and priority for citizens is traffic congestion, how do we fund those projects?” consultant Monica Gould asked at the city’s strategic planning retreat at the RP Funding Center on April 23 and 24.
Commissioners agreed that infrastructure is the defining issue for Lakeland’s next decade — a shift that signals future budgets and policy decisions will increasingly be driven by the need to catch up with growth.
Catching up — or falling behind
The problem isn’t new. What’s changing is how directly city leaders are talking about it — and what they plan to do about it.
Commissioners acknowledged that the city has largely been reacting to problems as they arise. Now, they’re pushing for longer-term planning, including multi-year forecasting and clearer funding strategies.
By the second day of the retreat, consultants had translated hours of discussion into four proposed infrastructure objectives:
- improving mobility and reducing congestion
- strengthening stormwater systems and flood protection
- ensuring water and wastewater capacity keep pace with growth
- modernizing foundational systems such as facilities, technology, and emergency operations
Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley said those priorities will ultimately drive budget decisions.
“If we say it’s infrastructure and we know that it is wastewater … or we know that it’s stormwater mitigation, and that’s what we collectively agree upon, then that’s going to shape how the budgeting happens,” she said.
The real constraints: money and manpower
While the needs are clear, how to pay for them — and deliver them — is not.
Rising construction costs and limited funding are major barriers. So are workforce shortages in skilled trades and engineering.
“Limited staffing slows project delivery and increases vulnerability,” the presentation noted.
That means fixing infrastructure isn’t just about funding construction — it’s also about building a workforce capable of designing, building, and maintaining it.
Commissioners said the challenge as they craft this summer’s budget will be balancing those needs with financial realities. Not everything can be fixed at once. They will need to prioritize and make tradeoffs.
Flooding moves to the forefront
City staff and residents said stormwater capacity and flooding risks are major vulnerabilities, especially as growth adds pressure and weather events become more intense.
“Stormwater, flooding, and infrastructure failures are impacting safety. We know that,” Gould said, summarizing concerns raised by residents.
Commissioners agreed. Aging systems and rapid growth are straining capacity, and upgrades and long-term resilience planning are needed.
“You have to have water. We have to be able to get rid of water,” Commissioner Guy LaLonde Jr. said.
Stormwater vote looms
That conversation is no longer theoretical.
City staff has identified more than $69 million in unfunded stormwater and lake projects, including flood-prevention and state-mandated pollution cleanup.
“And it’s not going to get cheaper each and every year,” LaLonde noted.
To address the gap, the commission is expected to vote on May 1 on a revised stormwater rate increase that would more than double residential fees over the next decade, phased in gradually. It would also lower the square footage used to calculate bills and preserve a 75% credit for businesses that manage their own stormwater.
Cindy Glover is a reporter for LkldNow, a nonprofit newsroom providing independent local news for Lakeland. Read at LkldNow.com.
