TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Titusville taxpayers could be paying more than $100,000 to relocate several tortoises. A contractor found the protected gopher tortoises while preparing for the construction of a new water pipeline.
The move cost would amount to $1,700 per tortoise. So, WFTV went to find out why moving them is so expensive.
One gopher tortoise is costing the city of Titusville hundreds of dollars in relocation costs alone. It's one of 33 that contractor Dyer, Riddle, Mills and Precourt has removed for the city within the last few days.
The threatened tortoises are living along the corridor of the city's new $5.5 million water transmission main construction project. The city has just one option if it hopes to move forward with construction: remove and relocate the gopher tortoises.
"The lion's share of the cost is attributed to the relocation of the recipient site that must be certified by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission," City Manager Mark Ryan said.
The city opted for the least expensive location it could find: Brahma Island in Osceola County.
Initially, the city budgeted for the removal of about 20 tortoises, but a more detailed survey revealed that number could be closer to 60.
"To date, we haven't found that number and we are three quarters of the way through the project," Ryan said.
The city's contractor believes it may never uncover 60 tortoises. That would drop the cost.
The water main project will address the city's future water needs. Phase 1 of the project will provide an additional 750,000 gallons of water to Titusville each day.
"We've been fortunate to get federal stimulus funds and rates associated with the project," Ryan said.
"Enough to offset the costs of the tortoise removal?" WFTV reporter Melonie Holt asked Ryan.
"Perhaps," he replied.
In the past, landowners with gopher tortoise burrows on their properties had the option of obtaining permits to entomb tortoises within their burrows, but the gopher tortoise status was upgraded to threatened, which means the reptiles are a protected species.
WFTV
