At its June 10 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Manasota Basin Board adopted a proposed fiscal year 2010 (FY2010) millage rate of 0.1484 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year. The Manasota Basin Board area includes Manatee and Sarasota counties.
This millage rate, combined with a reduction in taxable property values as estimated by the county property appraisers, will result in an estimated 11.19 percent decrease in ad valorem property tax revenue. These estimates will be updated when the property appraisers release their certified taxable property values in July.
The proposed budget for FY2010 is $13,345,442, which is a decrease of $10.63 million from the approved FY2009 budget. The main reasons for this decrease are reductions in ad valorem revenue, balances available from prior years and state revenue for the West-Central Florida Water Restoration Action Plan. 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 $14.84, or about $1.24 per month.
The Manasota Basin Board’s proposed FY2010 budget includes $1.83 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 Alligator Creek In-Stream Restoration project is a SWIM project included in the proposed budget that will prevent erosion and improve water quality within the Alligator Creek watershed in Sarasota County.
The project involves removing invasive vegetation, re-sloping the banks and planting native vegetation. The project also involves installing weirs at several locations to increase the time the water stays in the creek, which will provide additional in-stream water quality treatment.
This multi-year project is expected to cost $1.2 million. Funding will be divided between the county and the District. In FY2010, the Manasota Basin Board budgeted $157,427 for the project.
Future funding is contingent upon Basin Board approval. This project is expected to be complete by September 2011.
The Basin Board’s proposed budget also includes $8.98 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 Water Supply and Resource Development projects is the Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority’s (PRMRWSA) Regional Integrated Loop System, which will transport potable water to the Authority’s member governments, interconnect local systems to improve reliability and help offset the development of groundwater in the Southern Water Use Caution Area.
The Regional Integrated Loop System project consists of several projects being completed in phases. Phase 3A will connect the Carlton Water Treatment Facility to service areas in Sarasota County and will be a critical segment in future extensions northward to Manatee County.
This project includes above-ground storage, a pumping station and a pipeline that stretches approximately nine miles. The pipeline will follow an established utility corridor and will allow the Authority to transport at least 10 million gallons of water per day to northern Sarasota County. With future expansions to Manatee County, this pipeline may transport up to 37 million gallons of water per day.
The project is scheduled to begin construction this fall and be complete by November 2010.
This phase of the Regional Integrated Loop System project is expected to cost $42.5 million, which will be divided between the District and the PRMRWSA and will be funded over multiple years. District funding will be shared by the Governing Board, and the Peace River and Manasota Basin Boards. In FY2010, the Manasota River Basin Board is budgeting $2.8 million. Future funding is contingent upon Basin Board approval.
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 monthly 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 meetings to provide comment on the proposed budgets.