At its August 17 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Manasota Basin Board adopted a fiscal year 2006 (FY2006) millage rate of 0.160 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year.
The budget for FY2006 is $20,235,533, which represents an increase of $5,859,524 from the approved FY2005 budget. The increase in the budget is primarily due to an increase in property values, an increase in carryover funds from prior years as compared to FY2005 and revenue from the state’s newly created Water Protection and Sustainability Program for alternative water supply projects and surface water restoration projects. FY2006 will run from Oct. 1, 2005, through Sept. 30, 2006.
For the owner of a $125,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption, the FY2006 Basin Board tax would be $16, or $1.33 per month.
The Manasota Basin Board’s FY2006 budget includes Cooperative Funding projects. These projects are proposed by local governments, and are usually funded equally by the Basin Board and the local cooperator. One of the Manasota Basin Board’s Cooperative Funding projects is the Wares Creek Project in Manatee County.
This multi-year project, which is being funded by the basin board, the county and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), will reduce flooding in the Cedar Hammock Drainage Basin located in west central Manatee County and in the City of Bradenton.
The project involves widening the channels and stabilizing the banks of Wares Creek and the east branch of the Cedar Hammock Drain. The Wares Creek channel improvements will begin at the Manatee Avenue Bridge and end at the 44th Avenue West crossing (Cortez Road). The project also involves purchasing the rights-of-way and easement acquisitions necessary to construct the creek enhancements.
The Manasota Basin Board is contributing $3,003,648 in FY 2006. Funding during future fiscal years is contingent upon basin board approval.
The Basin Board’s budget also includes $4,143,611 for Water Supply and Resource Development, including $268,750 from the State’s Water Protection and Sustainability Program. Water Supply and Resource Development funds projects that develop additional new sustainable water supplies.
One of the Water Supply and Resource Development projects is the Facilitating Agricultural Resource Management Systems (FARMS) program, which is a public/private partnership program designed to assist the agricultural communities in the Southern Water Use Caution Area with emphasis in the Upper Myakka River Watershed. The goal is to help implement water conserving irrigation systems or other best management practices (BMPs) to reduce water usage and improve water quality. The Upper Myakka River Watershed includes portions of Manatee and Sarasota counties.
FARMS is an agricultural BMP cost-share reimbursement program. Projects developed for the program must include one or more of the following resource benefits: improve water quality; reduce Floridan aquifer withdrawals; or conserve, restore, or augment the area’s water resources and ecology. Applicants will be required to sign a 5- to 20-year contract to be approved for the FARMS program.
The total project budget over the last four years for the District is $7,910,601 with the Manasota Basin Board contributing an additional $285,173 in FY2006, including $200,000 to be provided by the state.
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 Manasota Basin Board area includes Manatee and Sarasota 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.
The District’s Governing Board will adopt millage rates for the District’s General Fund and the eight Basin Boards in September after two statutorily required public Truth in Millage (TRIM) hearings have been held. The first hearing will be Sept. 13 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. 27 at 5:01 p.m. at the District’s Brooksville headquarters. At this 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.