At today’s meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board adopted a fiscal year 2007 (FY2007) millage rate of 0.268 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year.
The budget for FY2007 is $9,288,171, which is an increase of $180,006 from the adopted FY2006 budget. The main reason for this increase is due to increased property values offset by a reduction in state funding. FY2007 will run from Oct. 1, 2006, through Sept. 30, 2007.
For the owner of a $125,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption, the FY2007 Basin Board tax would be $26.80, or about $2.23 per month.
The Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board’s FY2007 budget includes funding for Cooperative Funding projects. These projects are proposed by local governments and organizations, and are usually funded equally by the Basin Board and the local cooperator. One of the Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board’s Cooperative Funding projects, the Dale Mabry: Neptune-Henderson Stormwater Improvements project, will address water quality and flooding problems in South Tampa.
The watershed, located along Dale Mabry Highway in the area of Neptune and Henderson, is approximately 3.6 square miles. The project involves constructing a new outfall to connect existing inlets along Dale Mabry Highway and the cross streets within the watershed. It also involves constructing a large box culvert system from the area down to the Crosstown Expressway where a water quality structure will be installed to remove sediment from the stormwater runoff that enters the system. The large box culvert system will then continue under the Crosstown Expressway and outfall to the bay.
The multi-year funded project is estimated to cost $20.2 million. Funding will be divided between Tampa and the District. The District’s Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board is contributing $1.8 million in FY2007. In addition to funding from the Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board, the District’s Hillsborough River Basin Board will also contribute funding. The Basin Boards may contribute additional funding in future fiscal years.
One of the Basin Initiative projects in the budget is the Rocky Creek Lake Enhancement project. Basin Initiatives are projects that the Basin Board considers a
high priority to their Basin. The projects are typically initiated by the Basin and are usually funded solely by the Basin Board.
This multi-year and multi-phased project is aimed at diverting excess water during wet periods from Lake Pretty to other northwest Hillsborough lakes that have been impacted by localized groundwater pumping. Rocky Creek flows through Pretty Lake into Lake Armistead and then toward Tampa Bay. The project will divert excess water to Horse Lake, Lake Raleigh and Lake Rogers.
The multi-year funded project is estimated to cost $1.4 million. Funding will be divided between Tampa Bay Water and the District. The District’s Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board is contributing $236,739 in FY2007, of which Tampa Bay Water will fund $100,000. The Basin Board may contribute additional funding in FY2008 to finish the project.
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 Northwest Hillsborough Basin Board area includes the northwest portion of Hillsborough County.
The Basin Board’s budget also includes $1.5 million for the Water Supply and Resource Development program, which provides matching funds for the development of additional new sustainable water supplies.
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 who 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 will be Sept. 12 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. 26 at 5:01 p.m. at the District’s Tampa Service Office. 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 budgets.