At its June 3 meeting, the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board adopted a proposed fiscal year 2010 (FY2010) millage rate of 0.3600 mill, which is the same as the current fiscal year.
This millage rate, combined with a reduction in property values as estimated by the Pinellas and Pasco county property appraisers, will result in an estimated 11.5 percent decrease in ad valorem property tax revenue from FY2009. These estimates will be updated when the property appraisers release their certified taxable property values in July.
The proposed budget for FY2010 is $37,981,353, which is a decrease of $8,648,076 from the approved FY2009 budget. The main reason for this decrease is due to the reduction in ad valorem revenue and a reduction in available balances from prior years. FY2010 will run from Oct. 1, 2009 through Sept. 30, 2010.
The Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board area includes Pinellas County and the southern portion of Pasco County. For the owner of a $150,000 home with a $50,000 homestead exemption, the FY2010 Basin Board tax would be $36, or about $3 per month.
The Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board’s proposed FY2010 budget includes $19.9 million for cooperative funding projects which are proposed by local governments, and are usually funded equally by the Basin Board and the local cooperator.
An example of a cooperative funding project is the Skycrest Reclaimed Water project, which will provide reclaimed water to residents in Clearwater’s Skycrest area as well as connect the city’s reclaimed water supplies to its three wastewater treatment plants.
The project involves the design and construction of reclaimed water transmission lines, distribution piping, a high-service pump station and a five-million-gallon storage tank.
This project will unify Clearwater’s reclaimed water system and is expected to provide approximately 410,000 gallons per day (gpd) of reclaimed water to nearly 500 residential and commercial reclaimed water customers in central Clearwater. The project will offset 250,000 gpd of groundwater.
This multi-year funded project began in FY2007 and is estimated to cost $10.8 million when complete. The project is being funded equally by the District’s Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board and Clearwater. The Basin Board has tentatively budgeted $500,000 for FY2010.
Construction is expected to be complete by December 2010.
The proposed FY2010 budget also includes $5.1 million 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 Mullet Creek Water Quality Improvement project, which will prevent erosion and improve water quality within the Mullet Creek watershed in Safety Harbor.
This project involves regrading the creek and stabilizing it by placing open-celled, cable-concrete mats along the banks of the creek. The open cells contain soil and plants that will rapidly grow and cover the cable-concrete. These plantings also help restore the natural habitat.
The project is expected to be complete by June 2011.
This multi-year project is expected to cost $1 million, which will be divided equally between the District’s Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board and the City of Safety Harbor. The Basin Board has approved $453,154 for FY2010. Additional funding for future fiscal years is contingent upon Basin Board approval.
The Basin Board’s proposed budget also includes $9.2 million for the Water Supply and Resource Development program, which provides matching funds for the development of additional new sustainable water supplies.
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 at 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.