The “High Tide Tax” study, released this month by The Center for Climate Integrity Resilient Analytics, estimates that it will cost at least $76 billion to build even the most basic seawalls along Florida’s coastal counties by 2040.
Locally, the cost for Pinellas County is estimated to be a whopping $3,001,555,000, with Hillsborough trailing closely at $2,701,224,000.
According to the study, Tampa alone will need to reserve $938.4 million for 64 miles of seawall construction, which ranks it as the third most costly city in the state. Since there’s currently no other funding available to pay for all this, the study suggests this will cost taxpayers roughly $2,549 per capita.
St. Petersburg isn’t much worse, and will need to spend $751.4 million for 63 miles of seawalls, which will result in taxpayers paying $2,935 per capita.
These estimated costs were created using “a combination of nationally recognized construction cost estimates from the engineering community and local estimates from seawall design and construction companies to establish realistic localized per-foot costs,” says the study.
It’s also important to note that these estimates only represent a very conservative number, and only show costs for a one-year storm surge, which is a very common occurrence. The study also does not include many local line items that will likely incur when cities attempt to actually build these seawalls.
"We no longer have the luxury of waiting ten years," says lead scientist in the study Paul Chinowsky, who also pointed out that construction for these seawalls will need to start within the next decade.
But besides just seawall construction, Florida is expected to be the country’s most financially impacted state from the effects of climate change. A 2017 study published in Science Magazine says that climate change will impact Florida to the tune of $100.9 billion by the late 21st Century.
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This article appears in Jun 20-27, 2019.