Water District: Double Budget, Suspend Projects to Pay for U.S. Sugar
By Andy Reid, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jul. 10–More than doubling the budget for South Florida water managers and shelving some Everglades restoration projects are among the ways that were proposed today to pay for the state’s bid to buy out U.S. Sugar.
The South Florida Water Management District revealed a plan for a $2.9 billion agency budget next year — up from the $1.3 billion expected — to pay for buying U.S. Sugar’s 187,000 acres.
The boost comes from adding in costs for the $1.75 billion deal proposed to buy U.S. Sugar’s property and use the land to re-create the connection between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.
“These are hard numbers to swallow, by us and the public,” district board member Charles Dauray said.
The district proposes taking on more debt to pay for the U.S. Sugar deal without increasing taxes.
The district’s governing board on Wednesday gave an initial endorsement to keeping the property tax rate about 62 cents per $1,000 of taxable value.
For a $150,000 home, factoring in a $50,000 homestead exemption, that would cost residents in Broward and Palm Beach counties $62.40 a year.
“We did it within our means,” district Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle said.
Doing so required “difficult decisions,” Wehle said.
That includes continuing to suspend construction of a massive reservoir in western Palm Beach County.
Since June, the district has been paying contractors $1.9 million a month to standby while water managers decide whether to proceed.
The proposed budget calls for shrinking a much-anticipated reservoir and water treatment area east of Lake Okeechobee, planned to hold water that now gets drained to the coast with damaging environmental effects.
What was once a 12,000-acre project would shrink to 8,000 acres.
The district would hold off on building a similar reservoir on the west side of the lake, calling on the federal government to take over construction.
That at least poses a delay for a reservoir planned to stop damaging water discharges on the west coast. The federal government still must agree to build it.
“There will be a lot of very disappointed people,” said Dauray, who represents Southwest Florida.
The district board on June 30 authorized moving ahead with negotiations with U.S. Sugar for the buyout proposed by .
In addition to agreeing on a final sales price, land appraisals and environmental assessments of the land must be completed.
The deal calls for closing on the purchase by Nov. 30.
The district’s proposed budget comes up for a vote again on Sept. 10, with a final decision scheduled for Sept. 23.
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