| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to water management districts; amending s. |
| 3 | 373.503, F.S.; providing that a water management |
| 4 | district's millage rate is subject to annual authorization |
| 5 | by the Legislature; requiring the Legislature to annually |
| 6 | review a district's millage rate; requiring the |
| 7 | Legislature to annually set the amount of revenue |
| 8 | authorized to be raised by a district from ad valorem |
| 9 | taxes; providing for the amount of authorized revenue to |
| 10 | be raised by a district if the Legislature does not set |
| 11 | the amount by a specified date; amending s. 373.536, F.S.; |
| 12 | revising the beginning and ending dates of a district's |
| 13 | fiscal year; revising the date by which a district must |
| 14 | submit a tentative budget to the Governor and the |
| 15 | Legislature; eliminating the authorization for the |
| 16 | Legislature to comment on such budgets; eliminating the |
| 17 | requirement for districts to respond to such comments and |
| 18 | to forward such responses to the Governor and Legislature; |
| 19 | revising the date by which the Executive Office of the |
| 20 | Governor must file a specified report with the |
| 21 | Legislature; directing districts to implement conforming |
| 22 | measures; providing an effective date. |
| 23 |
|
| 24 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 25 |
|
| 26 | Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section |
| 27 | 373.503, Florida Statutes, is amended, subsection (5) is |
| 28 | renumbered as subsection (6), and a new subsection (5) is added |
| 29 | to that section, to read: |
| 30 | 373.503 Manner of taxation.-- |
| 31 | (3)(a) Subject to annual authorization by the Legislature |
| 32 | to levy ad valorem taxes under subsection (5), the districts may |
| 33 | levy ad valorem taxes on property within the district solely for |
| 34 | the purposes of this chapter and of chapter 25270, 1949, Laws of |
| 35 | Florida, as amended, and chapter 61-691, Laws of Florida, as |
| 36 | amended. The authority to levy ad valorem taxes as provided in |
| 37 | this act shall commence with the year 1977. However, the taxes |
| 38 | levied for 1977 by the governing boards pursuant to this section |
| 39 | shall be prorated to ensure that no such taxes will be levied |
| 40 | for the first 4 days of the tax year, which days will fall prior |
| 41 | to the effective date of the amendment to s. 9(b), Art. VII of |
| 42 | the State Constitution, which was approved March 9, 1976. When |
| 43 | appropriate, taxes levied by each governing board may be |
| 44 | separated by the governing board into a millage necessary for |
| 45 | the purposes of the district and a millage necessary for |
| 46 | financing basin functions specified in s. 373.0695. Beginning |
| 47 | with the taxing year 1977, and Notwithstanding the provisions of |
| 48 | any other general or special law to the contrary and subject to |
| 49 | annual authorization by the Legislature to levy ad valorem taxes |
| 50 | under subsection (5), the maximum total millage rate for |
| 51 | district and basin purposes shall be: |
| 52 | 1. Northwest Florida Water Management District: 0.05 mill. |
| 53 | 2. Suwannee River Water Management District: 0.75 mill. |
| 54 | 3. St. Johns River Water Management District: 0.6 mill. |
| 55 | 4. Southwest Florida Water Management District: 1.0 mill. |
| 56 | 5. South Florida Water Management District: 0.80 mill. |
| 57 | (5) To ensure that the taxes authorized by this chapter |
| 58 | continue to be in proportion to the benefits derived by the |
| 59 | several parcels of real estate within the districts, the |
| 60 | Legislature shall annually review the authorized millage rate |
| 61 | for each district and annually set the amount of revenue |
| 62 | authorized to be raised by each district from the taxes |
| 63 | authorized by this chapter. However, if the annual amount of |
| 64 | revenue authorized to be raised by each district is not set by |
| 65 | the Legislature on or before July 1 of each year, each district |
| 66 | is authorized to raise the amount of revenue authorized by the |
| 67 | Legislature in the preceding fiscal year and adjusted by the |
| 68 | percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for the preceding |
| 69 | fiscal year. |
| 70 | Section 2. Subsections (1) and (2) and paragraphs (c), |
| 71 | (e), and (f) of subsection (5) of section 373.536, Florida |
| 72 | Statutes, are amended to read: |
| 73 | 373.536 District budget and hearing thereon.-- |
| 74 | (1) FISCAL YEAR.--The fiscal year of districts created |
| 75 | under the provisions of this chapter shall extend from July |
| 76 | October 1 of one year through June September 30 of the following |
| 77 | year. |
| 78 | (2) BUDGET SUBMITTAL.--The budget officer of the district |
| 79 | shall, on or before July 15 of each year, submit for |
| 80 | consideration by the governing board of the district a tentative |
| 81 | budget for the district covering its proposed operations and |
| 82 | funding requirements for the ensuing fiscal year. |
| 83 | (5) TENTATIVE BUDGET CONTENTS AND SUBMISSION; REVIEW AND |
| 84 | APPROVAL.-- |
| 85 | (c) Each water management district shall, by February |
| 86 | August 1 of each year, submit for review a tentative budget to |
| 87 | the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the |
| 88 | House of Representatives, the chairs of all legislative |
| 89 | committees and subcommittees with substantive or fiscal |
| 90 | jurisdiction over water management districts, as determined by |
| 91 | the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of |
| 92 | Representatives as applicable, the secretary of the department, |
| 93 | and the governing body of each county in which the district has |
| 94 | jurisdiction or derives any funds for the operations of the |
| 95 | district. |
| 96 | (e) By September 5 of the year in which the budget is |
| 97 | submitted, the House and Senate appropriations chairs may |
| 98 | transmit to each district comments and objections to the |
| 99 | proposed budgets. Each district governing board shall include a |
| 100 | response to such comments and objections in the record of the |
| 101 | governing board meeting where final adoption of the budget takes |
| 102 | place, and the record of this meeting shall be transmitted to |
| 103 | the Executive Office of the Governor, the department, and the |
| 104 | chairs of the House and Senate appropriations committees. |
| 105 | (e)(f) The Executive Office of the Governor shall |
| 106 | annually, on or before September December 15, file with the |
| 107 | Legislature a report that summarizes its review of the water |
| 108 | management districts' tentative budgets and displays the adopted |
| 109 | budget allocations by program area. The report must identify the |
| 110 | districts that are not in compliance with the reporting |
| 111 | requirements of this section. State funds shall be withheld from |
| 112 | a water management district that fails to comply with these |
| 113 | reporting requirements. |
| 114 | Section 3. For the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 fiscal years, |
| 115 | notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the water management |
| 116 | districts are directed to budget and plan for their fiscal |
| 117 | management to conform to the provisions of this act. |
| 118 | Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |