East County Water Control District (ECWCD) has just begun examining the possible scenarios for raising or maintaining its assessment rates due to an increased need for Capital Projects and the lack of alternative revenue sources, the district said in a release.
According to the release:
ECWCD
is currently researching the best scenario recommendation to present to its
Board of Supervisors at the August 24 regular board meeting. No decisions have
been made at this point on whether to raise the assessment rate.
“In my experience at the District, Lehigh Acres has consistently voted no to
increased assessments, and the ECWCD board has always tried to be sensitive to
the residents, said Lindsay. “We have always and will always strive to deliver
the lowest assessment rate that we can while maintaining service for our
community.”
ECWCD’s previous budgets reflect just that. The assessment rates decreased from
1999 – 2006. In 1999, ECWCD budgeted $ 4,494,055 in assessments and continued
to decrease the assessment rate by 29% until 2006 when it was budgeted at
$3,190,836. During this period, a resident living on a quarter acre lot
experienced $ 7.80 in savings.
ECWCD was able to lower the assessment rates in previous years because of
alternative revenue sources such as the sale of dirt and an influx of residents
paying several years of back assessment. These alternative revenue sources are
no longer available and the cost of living is rising.
“It would have been very safe for the Supervisors from the 1999-2006 years to decide
to keep the assessment rates the same until the present day. However, they
chose to give back to the community and we hope that if an assessment rate
increase is needed that the community will understand,” said Lindsay.
The assessment rates are collected once a year and that money goes towards the
District’s maintenance and Capital Projects like culvert and weir replacements.
A large number of ECWCD’s culverts—a structure which allows water to pass under
a road or embankment—have been in place since the District’s creation in 1958;
they have an approximate life expectancy of 30-50 years. If a culvert crossing
fails it could flood homes and pose serious health risks to anyone driving over
the culvert crossing if it were to fail.
It is the District’s mission to preserve and protect the water resources within
its boundaries and ensure that flood waters flow. ECWCD’s canal system flows
into the Caloosahatchee River via four outfalls: Orange River, Bedman Creek,
Hickey Creek and Carlos Waterway.
“If we are unable to fund operations, homes in Lehigh will flood during
hurricane season,” said Lindsay. “During storms our men are out walking on
structures, clearing debris and whatever else is necessary to avoid flooding
our residents.
What do these assessments mean?
Through the years, the District has evolved to preserve and protect water
reserves through drainage, conservation, mitigation, navigational and water
management practices in Lehigh Acres and the western portion of Hendry County.
The District is often times mistaken as the organization responsible for
providing drinking water and wastewater service and infrastructure in Lehigh
Acres; however, these responsibilities lie with Florida Government Utility
Authority (FGUA).
ECWCD encompasses 70,000 acres of land – approximately 68,000 of these acres
lie in eastern Lee County with the remaining acres in Hendry County. The District maintains 311 miles of canals, 20 lakes, 360 culvert crossings, 22 bridges
and 66 water control structures. ECWCD maintains 1298 preserve acres as well as
578 acres of Harns Marsh—a major retention/detention area.
Maintenance of the district occurs through programs such as: canal cleaning,
canal mowing, rights-of-way maintenance, National Pollution Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES), aquatic plant control, drainage and flood control,
and limited parks powers.
Funding for the operation of ECWCD and all maintenance of canal systems is
acquired through the collection of non-ad valorem assessments which provide the
necessary drainage and flood control protection to local residents. In 1963,
the Special Act ratified the District’s creation and authorization to levy and
enforce taxes. It was reaffirmed in accordance and under the provisions of
Florida Statues, Chapter 298.
Everyone benefits from the existence of ECWCD, whether their business or
residence borders a canal or not. Everyone pays the same annual, flat rate
based on the amount of property they own, not its value. The current rates paid
to ECWCD per year by property owners:
· Quarter Acre: $22.45
· Half Acre: $44.90
· One Acre: $89.80
“Our goal is to maintain our current level of service to ensure the residents
of our District are protected, that structures are sound, and that jobs are
safe,” said Lindsay.
The ECWCD Board is currently struggling with a decision to reduce rights-of-way
mowing from three times a year to only two times a year in order to cut costs.
“Just imagine if you mowed your yard only three times a year? A majority of our
customer service calls are from homeowners wanting to know why we cannot mow
more frequently,” said Lindsay.
According to Lindsay, ECWCD has been working to cut spending and install cost
saving measures to improve the budget.