| 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 water management district's millage rate; |
| 7 | requiring the Legislature to annually set the amount |
| 8 | authorized to be raised by each water management district |
| 9 | from ad valorem taxes; providing an effective date. |
| 10 |
|
| 11 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 12 |
|
| 13 | Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section |
| 14 | 373.503, Florida Statutes, is amended, subsection (5) is |
| 15 | renumbered as subsection (6), and a new subsection (5) is added |
| 16 | to said section, to read: |
| 17 | 373.503 Manner of taxation.-- |
| 18 | (3)(a) Subject to annual authorization to levy ad valorem |
| 19 | taxes pursuant to subsection (5), the districts may levy ad |
| 20 | valorem taxes on property within the district solely for the |
| 21 | purposes of this chapter and of chapter 25270, 1949, Laws of |
| 22 | Florida, as amended, and chapter 61-691, Laws of Florida, as |
| 23 | amended. The authority to levy ad valorem taxes as provided in |
| 24 | this act shall commence with the year 1977. However, the taxes |
| 25 | levied for 1977 by the governing boards pursuant to this section |
| 26 | shall be prorated to ensure that no such taxes will be levied |
| 27 | for the first 4 days of the tax year, which days will fall prior |
| 28 | to the effective date of the amendment to s. 9(b), Art. VII of |
| 29 | the State Constitution, which was approved March 9, 1976. When |
| 30 | appropriate, taxes levied by each governing board may be |
| 31 | separated by the governing board into a millage necessary for |
| 32 | the purposes of the district and a millage necessary for |
| 33 | financing basin functions specified in s. 373.0695. Beginning |
| 34 | with the taxing year 1977, and Notwithstanding the provisions of |
| 35 | any other general or special law to the contrary, and subject to |
| 36 | annual authorization to levy ad valorem taxes pursuant to |
| 37 | subsection (5), the maximum total millage rate for district and |
| 38 | basin purposes shall be: |
| 39 | 1. Northwest Florida Water Management District: 0.05 mill. |
| 40 | 2. Suwannee River Water Management District: 0.75 mill. |
| 41 | 3. St. Johns River Water Management District: 0.6 mill. |
| 42 | 4. Southwest Florida Water Management District: 1.0 mill. |
| 43 | 5. South Florida Water Management District: 0.80 mill. |
| 44 | (5) In order to ensure that the taxes authorized by this |
| 45 | chapter continue to be in proportion to the benefits derived by |
| 46 | the several parcels of real estate within the districts to which |
| 47 | territories are annexed and transferred, the Legislature shall |
| 48 | annually review the authorized millage rate for each district |
| 49 | and annually set the amount authorized to be raised by each |
| 50 | district from the taxes authorized by this chapter. |
| 51 | Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2005. |