At its August 19 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Peace River Basin Board adopted a fiscal year 2006 (FY2006) millage rate of 0.195 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year.
The budget for FY2006 is $13,321,519, which is an increase of $3,126,709 from the approved FY2005 budget. The increase in the budget is primarily due to an increase in property values, increases in funding from local governments for Cooperative Funding projects, and revenue from the state’s newly created Water Protection and Sustainability Program for alternative water supply projects and surface water restoration. 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 $19.50, or about $1.63 per month.
The Peace River 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 Peace River Basin Board’s Cooperative Funding projects is the Lake Placid Reuse Project in Highlands County.
This project includes the design and construction of a reclaimed water pump station, a 500,000-gallon capacity ground storage tank and about 13,100 feet of transmission main. This project will provide approximately 95,000 gallons per day (gpd) of reuse water to the Town of Lake Placid, which will offset 60,000 gpd of groundwater. The reuse water will be used to irrigate the town’s park and recreation facilities, the grounds of a retirement facility, and a citrus groves.
The project is expected to cost $1,377,434, with the Peace River Basin Board contributing $450,280 in FY2006, including $117,420 from the state’s Water Protection and Sustainability Program. The Basin Board contributed $101,498 in FY2004 and $414,030 in FY2005.
The Basin Board’s budget also includes $3,518,304 for Water Supply and Resource Development. The Water Supply and Resource Development program provides funding for projects that develop 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 Shell, Prairie and Joshua Creek basins. 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 Shell, Prairie and Joshua Creek basins include portions of Charlotte and DeSoto 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 Peace River Basin Board contributing an additional $916,669 in FY2006, including $800,000 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 Peace River Basin Board area includes Hardee, DeSoto and portions of Polk, Highlands and Charlotte 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.