| 1 | The Finance & Tax Committee recommends the following: |
| 2 |
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| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to water management districts; amending s. |
| 7 | 373.503, F.S.; providing that a water management |
| 8 | district's millage rate is subject to annual authorization |
| 9 | by the Legislature; requiring the Legislature to annually |
| 10 | review a water management district's millage rate; |
| 11 | requiring the Legislature to annually set the amount of |
| 12 | revenue authorized to be raised by each water management |
| 13 | district from ad valorem taxes; providing an effective |
| 14 | date. |
| 15 |
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| 16 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 17 |
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| 18 | Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section |
| 19 | 373.503, Florida Statutes, is amended, subsection (5) is |
| 20 | renumbered as subsection (6), and a new subsection (5) is added |
| 21 | to said section, to read: |
| 22 | 373.503 Manner of taxation.-- |
| 23 | (3)(a) Subject to annual authorization to levy ad valorem |
| 24 | taxes pursuant to subsection (5), the districts may levy ad |
| 25 | valorem taxes on property within the district solely for the |
| 26 | purposes of this chapter and of chapter 25270, 1949, Laws of |
| 27 | Florida, as amended, and chapter 61-691, Laws of Florida, as |
| 28 | amended. The authority to levy ad valorem taxes as provided in |
| 29 | this act shall commence with the year 1977. However, the taxes |
| 30 | levied for 1977 by the governing boards pursuant to this section |
| 31 | shall be prorated to ensure that no such taxes will be levied |
| 32 | for the first 4 days of the tax year, which days will fall prior |
| 33 | to the effective date of the amendment to s. 9(b), Art. VII of |
| 34 | the State Constitution, which was approved March 9, 1976. When |
| 35 | appropriate, taxes levied by each governing board may be |
| 36 | separated by the governing board into a millage necessary for |
| 37 | the purposes of the district and a millage necessary for |
| 38 | financing basin functions specified in s. 373.0695. Beginning |
| 39 | with the taxing year 1977, and Notwithstanding the provisions of |
| 40 | any other general or special law to the contrary, and subject to |
| 41 | annual authorization to levy ad valorem taxes pursuant to |
| 42 | subsection (5), the maximum total millage rate for district and |
| 43 | basin purposes shall be: |
| 44 | 1. Northwest Florida Water Management District: 0.05 mill. |
| 45 | 2. Suwannee River Water Management District: 0.75 mill. |
| 46 | 3. St. Johns River Water Management District: 0.6 mill. |
| 47 | 4. Southwest Florida Water Management District: 1.0 mill. |
| 48 | 5. South Florida Water Management District: 0.80 mill. |
| 49 | (5) In order to ensure that the taxes authorized by this |
| 50 | chapter continue to be in proportion to the benefits derived by |
| 51 | the several parcels of real estate within the districts to which |
| 52 | territories are annexed and transferred, the Legislature shall |
| 53 | annually review the authorized millage rate for each district |
| 54 | and annually set the amount of revenue authorized to be raised |
| 55 | by each district from the taxes authorized by this chapter. |
| 56 | Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2005. |