No. HB 4099
Filed under Environment & Water.
South Indian River Water Control District, Palm Beach County; Increases number of members of governing board; including fractions of acres in all gross acreage owned by landowner; provides for compensation for supervisors attending board meetings; requires competitive bidding for certain positions; revises residence requirements for members of board; provides for staggering of terms, annual elections, & election of board officers; requires election; removes outdated language; requires board to authorize formation of engineering plan; provides limitation of one-time special assessment; authorizes district money to be expended before levy of such special assessment.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDGrows the governing board from five to six seats, split evenly between landowners east and west of Canal 18, with each side electing only its own three members instead of the whole board.
Board votes are now counted using a landowner's exact gross acreage, including fractions, instead of rounding to whole acres, and members get a capped $50 for each meeting they physically attend.
Once 25 percent of landowners east of the canal document support, the board must authorize an engineering plan rather than merely being allowed to; the district must also competitively bid its accountant, attorney, and engineer positions every three years.
The district can now spend money before formally levying its one-time special assessment, which is newly capped at $1,000 per benefited parcel, and an old, specific annexation clause for one parcel is repealed.
AIThe board grows from five to six members, three living east of Canal 18 and three west, and each side's landowners now elect only their own three members rather than voting on the whole board.
AIEach landowner's votes for board seats equal their total gross acreage as reported by the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, counting fractional acres, replacing the old one-acre-one-vote formula that implied whole-acre rounding.
AIPreviously the board was banned from authorizing an engineering plan for the area east of the canal unless 25 percent of landowners showed support -- a ban lifted, not a duty created. Now the board must authorize it once that same support is documented, removing its discretion to decline.
AIAn election for all six board seats is required immediately after enactment, with terms staggered one to three years by vote ranking so seats turn over annually afterward, and the east-side members elect the board's president, vice president, and secretary in even years.
AIThe one-time special assessment for a project's initial legal and engineering costs is capped at $1,000 per benefited parcel, and the prior ban on spending district money before that assessment is formally levied is repealed, so advance spending is now allowed.
AIThe district must advertise a Request for Proposal for its accountant, attorney, and engineer positions at least once every three years, replacing whatever less formal selection practice applied before.
AIBoard members can now be paid up to $50 for physically attending a board meeting, a specific new compensation figure replacing a prior clause that just deferred to chapter 298 generally.
AIDeletes the section that would annex a described parcel (portions of Sections 4 and 5, Township 41 South, Range 41 East) into the district and that capped how much stormwater runoff from that parcel could flow into the rest of the district.