Tamarac to use $315,000 PFAS settlement toward water treatment, city attorney says

The Tamarac City Commission was told April 22 that the city received a $315,000 check from a class-action water-quality case related to PFAS, and officials said the commission has discretion to use the funds for treatment and infrastructure.

City Attorney (speaker) told the commission, “we received $315,000 from the class action water quality case. Recently, the check arrived yesterday.” He added there is no restriction on how the dollars may be spent, leaving allocation decisions to the commission.

Mayor Michelle J. Gomes said she hoped the money would be directed to water treatment and infrastructure to help remove PFAS from the city’s water supply: “I'm hopeful that the money will go to our water treatment and everything we need to do to make sure that we keep PFAS from being within our water and keep our water and infrastructure safe.”

The attorney’s remarks included a larger, unclear figure that could not be verified from the transcript; the formal, unambiguous amount announced to the commission was $315,000. No formal vote or allocation occurred at the meeting; staff and commissioners indicated the matter would be handled through regular budgeting or future commission direction.

Next steps: the commission did not take action on allocation at the April 22 meeting; any formal designation of the funds would need to be placed on a future agenda for the commission’s vote or included in the budget process.