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On Aug. 16, the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District approved the budget for fiscal year 2021-2022 at its recent meeting, along with non-ad valorem assessments the same as the prior year.

Its Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 on Resolution #2021-07 to adopt the FY2022 budget, and Resolution #2021-08, which is the imposition of non-ad valorem assessments and the adoption of an assessment roll.

The adopted total budget approved for 2021-2022 was $9.1 million, which includes the General Fund, special revenue funds, capital project funds, reserves and beginning fund balances.

“The proposed budget was unanimously approved by our board of commissioners and the district did not increase the current non-ad valorem assessments, which stayed at $130.15 per acre, the same it’s been for the last three years,” District Manager David Lindsay said. “We also have really good reserves in place”

The adopted budget breaks down the 2021-22 total as $5,700,546 in General Fund, $917,450 in debt service, and capital infrastructure projects budgeted at $2,190,000, with $1,090,000 revenue coming from state grants. Significant projects budgeted for the year include: C.R.E.S.T. and the GS-10 Project that’s in conjunction with Lee County.

These grants will allow the district to move forward on a few planned projects important to Lehigh.

“We recently awarded the design of Section 10 to AIM Engineering who has already started the designing stages. They will play a significant role in laying out a dual water mitigation/recreational area that encompasses roughly 640 acres off Joel Boulevard,” Lindsay said. “The planning has already begun and our goal is to have 60 percent of the project designed by the end of September 2021.”

Another slated project is the rebuilding of a water control structure, which sits behind Varsity Lakes Middle School.

For more information visit: http://www.myecwcd.net/