Supervisors hold down CDD costs

LAKEWOOD RANCH — For residents of Lakewood Ranch, when it comes to annual assessments, it all depends on where you live.

Lakewood Ranch community development districts 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 all will see budget changes in 2015 ranging from a 3.5% increase to an 8.9% decrease. For residents, those budget numbers range as high as a $108 average annual assessment increase per unit in District 5 to as low as a $144 average annual assessment decrease per unit in CDD 6.

Increased expenses for each district stem primarily from costs associated with technology and community-wide connectivity upgrades, as well as higher fees for irrigation water from irrigation utility provider Braden River Utilities.

Supervisors adopted their fiscal year 2015 budgets Aug. 21.

Town Hall Finance Director Steve Zielinski called the budgets fiscally responsible.

“It meets all the requirements to provide the same or improved level of services, which would maintain the high expectations of the quality of life for living in Lakewood Ranch — the aesthetics, the appeal of living in Lakewood Ranch,” Zielinksi said. “There were no real major issues with any of the districts, except for (district) 5 (because of road reserves). And (district) 5 is going to do pretty well in the future.”

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

Scroll down to see a FY 2015 budget breakdown of the CDDs.