At its August 4 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Peace River Basin Board adopted a fiscal year 2007 (FY2007) millage rate of 0.195 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year.
The budget for FY2007 is $15,976,982, which is an increase of $2,655,463 from the approved FY2006 budget. The increase is primarily due to an increase in property values. FY2007 will run from Oct. 1, 2006, through Sept. 30, 2007.
The Peace River Basin Board area includes Hardee, DeSoto and portions of Polk, Highlands and Charlotte counties. For the owner of a $125,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption, the FY2007 Basin Board tax would be $19.50, or about $1.63 per month.
The Peace River Basin Board’s FY2007 budget includes 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 Peace River Basin Board’s Cooperative Funding projects is the Lake Clinch Outfall Replacement project, which is a project that is part of the Lakes Crooked, Clinch and Reedy Watershed Management Plan.
This multi-year funded project addresses a key drainage restriction near Frostproof. The project, which is a cooperative effort with Polk County and the City of Frostproof, will provide flood protection and enhance water quality. There are two components to this project. The first involves emergency repairs to the conveyance system between Lakes Clinch and Reedy, which will remove restrictions in the Lake Clinch outfall to Reedy Lake caused by conversion of open channels to closed pipes. The second component is replacing the Lake Clinch Outfall.
The first portion of the project was completed after the area was flooded last summer. Emergency repairs included replacing undersized piping at several locations with 48-inch pipe.
The second portion of the project will involve constructing a water control structure on Lake Clinch and a conveyance system between Lake Clinch and Lake Reedy.
The project is expected to cost $4 million. Funding is being divided among the District’s Peace River Basin Board, Polk County and the City of Frostproof. The Basin Board contributed $25,000 in FY2006 and reallocated $960,000 from its Water Supply and Resource Development reserves for the second portion of this project. The Basin Board is contributing $489,002 in FY2007. The project has also received $1 million in State funding.
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.
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 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.