The Suwannee River Water Management District’s Tentative FY 2012-13 Budget – also known as the August 1 Report – is now available on the agency’s business and financial page at www.mysuwanneeriver.com.
The tentative budget total is $15,128,674 and includes only those items that are expected to be expended this fiscal year. The budget supports the District’s core missions and includes significant reserve funding for cost-share programs. The District proposes to set aside $1.5 million each for agriculture and local government cost-share programs for water supply, water conservation, water resources, and related projects.
The proposed budget, approved by the Governing Board on July 10, includes $5.2 million in ad valorem property tax revenue. The proposed millage rate is 0.4143, or 41.43 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value, and is the same as last fiscal year. The District expects to receive an estimated $2.9 million in state funding and an estimated $1.1 million in federal funding.
The Tentative FY 2012-13 Budget represents a revised standardized approach to budgeting and fiscal responsibility. For the first time, the District has developed an annual operations budget, which is consistent with the other water management districts and allows for improved tracking of costs and performance evaluations.
In compliance with statutory requirements, the District submitted the Standard Format Tentative Budget on August 1 to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the chairs of all legislative committees and subcommittees with substantive or fiscal jurisdiction over water management districts, the Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the governing body of each county in which the District has jurisdiction or derives any funds for District operations.
The District will hold public hearings on the budget at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 11, and Tuesday, September 25. Both hearings will be held at District headquarters in Live Oak.