At its June 5 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Peace River Basin Board adopted a proposed fiscal year 2010 (FY2010) millage rate of 0.1827 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year. The Peace River Basin Board area includes Hardee, DeSoto and portions of Polk, Highlands and Charlotte counties.
This proposed millage rate combined with a reduction in taxable property values as estimated by the five county property appraisers will result in an estimated 8.5 percent decrease in ad valorem property tax revenue from FY2009. These estimates will be updated when the property appraisers release their Certifications of Taxable Values in July.
The proposed budget for FY2010 is $10,502,572 which is a decrease of $6,807,820 from the approved FY2009 budget. The main reason for this decrease is due to the reduction in ad valorem revenue and a reduction in state revenue, primarily a decrease in funding 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 FY2009 Basin Board tax would be $18.27, or about $1.52 per month.
The Peace River Basin Board’s FY2010 budget includes $726,414 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.
One of the SWIM projects is the Coral Creek Habitat Restoration project, which will restore impacted wetlands and provide stormwater treatment on District-owned lands.
The Coral Creek project is located on a 2,600-acre site owned by the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the District and is part of the 43,000-acre Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park.
This multi-year project includes the restoration and enhancement of historic and man-made creek channels; intertidal, low-salinity and freshwater habitats; complementary marshes and uplands; the removal of invasive vegetation; and the construction of stormwater treatment features to improve water quality for Charlotte Harbor.
This project is being funded over several years by the District’s Peace River Basin Board and the SWIM Program. The Basin Board has budgeted $228,021 for FY2010 for the construction of selected restoration projects within the site. Additional funding in future fiscal years is contingent upon Basin Board approval.
The Basin Board’s proposed budget also includes $5.48 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 ground water in the Southern Water Use Caution Area.
The Regional Integrated Loop System consists of several projects being completed in phases. Phase 2 involves the construction of a 5.5-mile pipeline to connect the Peace River facility and the City of North Port. In addition, Phase 2 will be a critical segment in connecting the City of North Port’s Myakkahatchee Creek water treatment facility and the Englewood Water District treatment facilities to the integrated system, and creating rotational capacity with the Carlton water treatment facility.
When complete, the initial segment of the Phase 2 Interconnect will allow the City of North Port to receive additional water from the Authority’s ongoing expansion project. The city currently requires this project to transmit the quantities of water they are contracted to purchase from the Authority in FY2012.
This phase of the Regional Integrated Loop System project is expected to cost $15.4 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. For FY2010, the Peace River Basin Board is tentatively budgeting $200,860.
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 in July in 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 comments on the proposed budgets.