At its August 17 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Hillsborough River Basin Board adopted a fiscal year 2005 (FY2005) millage rate of 0.285 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year.
The budget forFY2005 is $11,817,325, which represents an increase of $405,679 over the approvedFY 2004 budget. The increase in the budget is due to additional ad valorem property taxes resulting from new growth and increases in existing property values.FY 2004 will run from Oct. 1, 2004, through Sept. 30, 2005.
For the owner of a $100,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption, theFY 2004Basin Board tax would be $21.38, or about $1.78 per month.
The Hillsborough River Basin Board’sFY2005 budget includes funding for Cooperative Funding projects. These projects are proposed by local governments, and are usually equally funded by the Basin Board and the local cooperator. One of the Hillsborough River Basin Board’s Cooperative Funding projects is the Lake Zephyr Watershed Improvement Stormwater Infrastructure Construction project in Pasco County.
This project, which is a multi-year funded project, will reduce flooding along Zephyr Creek and create water quality benefits consistent with the Hillsborough River Comprehensive Watershed Management goals. The project provides significant stormwater infrastructure improvements to reduce flood damages to property and infrastructure.
The project consists of constructing a 70-acre detention pond. The objectives of this project are to reduce flood levels downstream of the pond, reduce the size of the Zephyr Creek floodplain, improve water quality, and improve Pasco County’s Community Rating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which could reduce flood insurance rates by 5 to 10 percent. The pond will help reduce peak flood stages along portions of Zephyr Creek by 1.0 to 2.5 feet.
The total cost of the multi-year project is $5,134,292. The Hillsborough River Basin Board committed $1,200,000 to project funding over fiscal years 2000-2004, and is contributing $301,004 for construction inFY 2005. Construction began Feb. 26, 2003 and is scheduled to continue at least two years. The Basin Board may contribute additional funding in future fiscal years. The design and permitting part of the project was funded separately by Pasco County.
The Basin Board’s budget also includes $2,402,363 for Water Supply and Resource Development. Water Supply and Resource Development projects provide funding to projects to develop additional new sustainable water supplies.
One of the Water Supply and Resource Development projects in the tentative budget is the Tampa Bay Regional Reclaimed Water and Downstream Augmentation Project.
This project is the result of a partnership between the District, the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County, Pasco County and Tampa Bay Water. It will ultimately reduce the use of traditional water supplies for irrigation and other purposes, increase the beneficial use of wet-weather reclaimed water flows, rather than continue the practice of discharging them to tide or deep wells, and help to restore the natural systems in the area. The partnership will make available 26 mgd of alternative water supplies during the drier parts of the year. In addition, the project will store surplus wet-weather reclaimed water flows for use during dry parts of the year when demand is high, and may use surplus reclaimed water for groundwater recharge and natural system restoration. The wet-weather component of the project is expected to provide an additional 8 mgd of water resource benefit, allowing the project to provide the region with 34 mgd of alternative water supplies.
The project will consist of the design, permitting and construction of a regional reclaimed water system to supply approximately 30,000 residential, industrial, commercial and golf course customers in the region. The primary reclaimed water source is the City of Tampa’s Howard F. Curren Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility (HFC plant), and the project infrastructure will consist of more than 30 miles of reclaimed water transmission pipelines, pumping and storage, and additional distribution pipelines and infrastructure. The core project is estimated to cost between $213 and $262 million, and will take approximately ten years to complete. The District and its partners are pursuing state and federal grants to help defray project costs.
The District has eight regional Basin Boards that provide guidance for local programs that are specific to the watershed basins they protect. The
District’s ninth 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. The Hillsborough River Basin Board area covers portions of Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties.
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 11 members of the District’s Governing Board that serves as the Board’s chair ex officio.
Two statutorily required public Truth In Millage (TRIM) hearings on the District’s total budget will be held in September. The first will be Sept. 14 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 hearings.
The District’s second and finalTRIM hearing will be Sept. 28 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 meetings to provide comment on the proposed budgets.