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IiI.�I ST. JOHNS RIVER WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT FACT SHEET Programs benefit citizens, water bodies, wildlife The proposed $107.5 million budget tentatively accepted by the District's governing board in July represents a 7.2 percent increase above the current year's $100.4 million spending plan. Increases in unfunded legislative mandates, land acquisition, project operation and maintenance costs coupled with cutbacks in state funding necessitate an increase in the District's primary funding source — an ad valorem (property) tax. The District's governing board has held the line on taxes since the late 1980s, with small millage increases in 1989 and 1990 (see graphic below). While that strategy was fiscally conservative, it forced the District to cut back on several important programs in an effort to save money. The District is now trying to make up for lost ground dealing with decades of environmental abuse while balancing the needs of a growing population with a dwindling natural resource. "Ask someone to take on more and more work without increas- ing their budget to pay for that work, before long he'll either go bankrupt or stop doing his job," said Joe Hill, District governing board chairman. 'That's the case we're in, but we can't declare bankruptcy and we can't refuse accepting increased, unfunded legislative mandates or abandon the work we've begun. So to accomplish our goals, there's only one avenue left to us.' At its July meeting, the board set the tentative millage rate at .555 mill. The current rate, which has remained constant since 1990, is .358 mill. This new rate will generate an increase of $20 million in revenue and means a property owner would be assessed 55.5 cents for every $'1,000 of property value. Put another way, a homeowner with property valued at t.o Constitutional millage cap 0.8 Lu .3 0.6 .......................................................... Statutory millage cap .55 DA .358.358 .358 288.289 .326 ,281 0 0 220.234.244 O 0.7 1993 1M9 INS 19U 107 /9a 19M 1990 1991 1917 1997 IM YEAR 1983-1988 millages reflect a weighted average for Oddawsha and St. Johns River basins. 1994 millage Is projected. E $100,000 who is able to claim a homestead exemption would pay $41.63 in annual water management taxes. This year's increase in water management taxes for this homeowner would be $14.78. While legislative funding has declined in the past four years, mandates coming from the state have increased. Unfunded mandates the District must pay for include: • Streamlined permitting • Establishing minimum flows and levels for water bodies in the 19 counties in the District • Development of a Comprehensive Water Management Plan • Identifying future Water Supply Needs and Sources • Developing Wellhead Protection Programs to safeguard public water supplies • Identifying and plugging thousands of abandoned free-flowing artesian wells Our five-year land acquisition plan has identified a need for $100 million per year to purchase critically endangered lands. Our budget targets approximately $30 million this year to begin meeting this goal. The recession has reduced revenues for the state's "Save Our Rivers" fund, a major funding source of the District's land -buying program. To make up this shortfall, $7 million of ad valorem monies are earmarked for land acquisition in the 1993-94 budget. Even so, this is still 11% below last year's funding level for purchasing lands. Additionally, state funding for the Surface Water Improve- ment and Management (SWIM) program has been slashed from its original levels each year since 1990. SWIM is a state- wide program established in 1987 to restore and protect Florida's lakes, rivers and bays. The District currently has four SWIM restorations — Lake Apopka, Indian River Lagoon, upper Ocklawaha River and lower St. Johns River. The District is near completion of the nation's largest flood control and wetland restoration project, the rehabilitation of the St. Johns River's headwaters. This project addresses the long-term water quality and quantity concerns for the entire river. It also improves water quality in the Indian River Lagoon because it directs water westward to the St. Johns, as nature intended. Some construction and scientific projects for these restora- tions have been deferred in recent years to keep our millage rate low. We now are at a crossroads after years of research, planning and progress. Do we stop funding now when the diag- noses and cures have been found and waste the public's mon- ey that's already been spent? Or do we have the courage to find the money to implement the treatment? Waiting a few years will only increase the cost and further degrade the health of these imperiled water bodies. BOOK 90 FAGF.100