At its June 4 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s newly merged Hillsborough River Basin Board adopted a proposed fiscal year 2010 (FY2010) millage rate of 0.2421 mill. The Hillsborough River Basin Board area covers Hillsborough County and portions of Pasco and Polk counties.
The Hillsborough River and the Northwest Hillsborough Basin Boards were merged effective Jan. 1, 2009. For FY2009, the Hillsborough River Basin Board adopted a millage rate of 0.2547 mill and the Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board adopted a millage rate of 0.2421 mill. For FY2010, the merged Hillsborough River Basin Board adopted the lower rate of the two former Boards, which is the proposed rate of 0.2421 mill.
The proposed budget for FY2010 is $23,189,014, which is a decrease of $8,091,935 from the approved FY2009 budgets for the two Basin Boards before the merger. This decrease is primarily due to the anticipated reduction in ad valorem tax revenues related to an anticipated 12.5 percent decline in taxable property values and to the reduction in the millage rate due to the Basin merger and a reduction in balances available from the prior year. FY2010 will run from Oct. 1, 2009 through Sept. 30, 2010.
For the owner of a $150,000 home with a $50,000 homestead exemption, the FY2010 Basin Board tax would be $24.21, or about $2.02 per month.
The Hillsborough River Basin Board’s proposed FY2010 budget includes $2 million for projects in the District’s Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Program. The SWIM Program was established by the Florida Legislature in 1987 and requires the state’s five water management districts to maintain a priority list of water bodies of regional or statewide significance. The districts develop plans and programs to improve these water bodies.
The Robles Park Water Quality and Natural Systems Improvement project is a SWIM project included in the proposed budget that will improve water quality and enhance natural systems.
Robles Park is a passive urban park owned and maintained by the City of Tampa. It has an existing man-made shallow pond, which is not designed to provide water quality treatment. However, the pond receives runoff from I-275 and from a highly urbanized neighborhood of approximately 170 acres. The pond discharges directly to the Hillsborough River, and ultimately to Tampa Bay.
The proposed project will improve water quality before it is discharged into the river. The project will also improve habitat by stabilizing the banks and planting emergent vegetation. These improvements will also benefit Tampa Bay, a SWIM priority water body.
This multi-year funded project is a cooperative effort among the Florida Department of Transportation, the City of Tampa and the District. In FY2010, the District’s Hillsborough River Basin Board is budgeting $341,935 for this project, including $227,217 from state and local government sources. Future funding is contingent upon Basin Board approval.
The Basin Board’s proposed budget also includes $9.3 million for the Water Supply and Resource Development program, which provides matching funds for the development of additional new sustainable water supplies.
One of the projects being funded through this program is the Tampa Bay Water System Configuration II project, which consists of various project components that build on Tampa Bay Water’s existing Enhanced Surface Water System. When complete, this project will provide an additional 25 million gallons (mgd) of potable water per day to the member governments of Tampa Bay Water.
The project will withdraw and treat water from the Hillsborough River and Tampa Bypass Canal during periods of higher flows. This project requires a number of Tampa Bay Water’s regional system components to be expanded, including the surface water treatment plant and the Tampa Bypass Canal Pump Station. These improvements will enable the higher surface water flows from the Hillsborough River and Tampa Bypass Canal to be captured, which will increase the use of the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir. In addition, four interconnections that are used to transport water throughout the region are also being upgraded.
This project is being funded by the District’s General Fund, as well as the Alafia River, Hillsborough River, Coastal Rivers, Pinellas-Anclote River and Withlacoochee River Basin Boards. The Hillsborough River Basin Board has budgeted $6.6 million for this project in FY2010.
The District has seven regional Basin Boards that provide guidance for local programs that are specific to the watershed basins they protect. The District’s eighth basin, the Green Swamp, is administered by the Governing Board. Basin Boards work with local governments and other entities on water resource projects that have an impact in local communities. Basin Boards often provide partial funding for these projects in partnership with a local government or local cooperator.
Basin Board members are unpaid citizen volunteers appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. They serve three-year staggered terms. Each of the Basin Boards includes a minimum of one person from each county within the basin, and there must be at least three members on each board. Each Basin Board has at least one of the 13 members of the District’s Governing Board that serves as the Board’s chair ex officio.
The District’s Governing Board will adopt proposed millage rates for the District’s General Fund and the Basin Boards at its meeting on July 28 at the Polk County Administration Building, 330 W. Church St. in Bartow. These millage rates will be used by county property appraisers when mailing out Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices to residents. The Basin Boards will meet again in August to adopt their final millage rates and budgets.
Two statutorily required public TRIM hearings on the District’s total budget will be held in September. The first will be Sept. 15 at 5:01 p.m. at the District’s Tampa Service Office.
The Governor’s office will review and approve the budgets of all five water management districts before the second and final public hearing.
The District’s second and final TRIM hearing will be Sept. 29 at 5:01 p.m. at the District’s Brooksville headquarters. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Governing Board will formally adopt the final millage rates and budgets. The public is welcome to attend any Governing Board or Basin Board meeting to provide comments on the proposed budgets.