Community harbors dollars for next year’s fiscal budget

HERITAGE HARBOUR — Heritage Harbour South Community Development District board supervisors are better preparing their district for just-in-case scenarios through the community’s 2015-2016 fiscal year budget.

At its May 5 meeting, the CDD discussed the first draft of its next budget, slated to total the same amount as last year’s — $413,000.

The supervisors increased funding forn areas of top priority for the community — capital reserves, natural disaster funds and aquatic plant restorations. The top areas of spending cuts will be lake pond maintenance, stormwater system maintenance, legal counsel and the board’s contingency fund.

Supervisors will review the draft of the budget and will discuss it further at the CDD’s June 2 meeting. At that time, they will set a public hearing for community input on the dollars allotted for the community next fiscal year.

“I’m feeling really good about this budget,” CDD Chairwoman Michelle Patterson said. “We’re putting money in the right areas.”

Reserves: $53,062 
Supervisors expect to use a portion of the reserves for major capital projects, such as repairing a range of roadways throughout the community that could cost up to $1 million. This also could serve as a backup for the disaster fund, to aid the neighborhood by clearing fallen trees from roadways and other services after a hurricane or other disaster.

Roadway repair and maintenance: $25,000 
Aside from reserve dollars for roadwork, the community is also starting to increase its roadway repair allotment of the budget to help residents brace for the cost of future  repairs.

Aquatic plant replacement: $12,500 
The CDD will use these dollars to help rejuvenate the natural native growing plants in the wetlands and near community ponds. Promoting natural plants, and replacing and adding to the stock of plants, will help control invasive plants, such as Brazilian pepper trees and torpedo grass, while also boosting the health of the ponds.

Sidewalk repair: $15,000 
The dollars will repair deep crevices in the sidewalks, which can worsen if left untreated. The allotted amount will also go toward pressure washing curbs and sidewalks throughout the community.

Lake pond maintenance: $10,000
The district moved dollars out of the lake pond maintenance fund to transfer more money into the account for replacing native plants. The district’s contract with Aquatic Systems includes a range of services, so the extra dollars in this department aren’t necessary at this time.

Stormwater system maintenance: $10,000 
The funding for stormwater system maintenance, or servicing the retention ponds throughout Heritage Harbour, was decreased, because the costs are covered under the umbrella of other debits, such as the contract with the pond and wetlands vendor.

Legal counsel: $25,000 
To give District Engineer Rick Schappacher a pay boost for the extra workload he will lift with roadwork and estimates for such repairs, the district decreased attorney Andy Cohen’s pay.

Contingency fund: $5,000 
The district has been putting “just in case” dollars into a reserve and disaster fund, as well as the contingency, or miscellaneous, fund. It decreased the dollars here to put more money into reserves and other necessary areas.