Lakewood Ranch IDA budget includes gate changes

Some projects put on hold due to pandemic.

By Pam Eubanks
| 8:40 a.m. July 22, 2020

Lakewood Ranch community development district supervisors hope going to a partially automated gate system for the Country Club will save money and solve entry problems. File photo.

East County
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Supervisors on the Lakewood Ranch Inter-District Authority Board on July 14 approved the 2021 fiscal year budget, setting the groundwork for community development districts comprising the Country Club at Lakewood Ranch to shift toward a new gatehouse monitoring system.

IDA supervisors included nearly $300,000 in the new budget for Community Development Districts 2, 5 and 6 to contract with

IDA BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

The IDA adopted its fiscal year 2021 budget July 14.

It includes a 1.5% increase over the prior year for a budget of $4.3 million. Overall budget appropriations increase from fiscal 2020 of 1.5%, which includes:

— Community Association Services, salary and wages, and other expenses: 3.2% increase;

— Communitywide administration, salary and wages, and other expenses: 3.2% decrease;

— Communitywide operations, salary and wages, and other expenses: 0.9% decrease;

n Gatehouse cost sharing interlocal agreement among CDDs 2, 5 and 6 only: 34.6% increase;

— Town Hall administrative expenses: 8.1% decrease;

— Town Hall operations, salary and wages, and other expenses: 6.1% decrease;

— Capital outlay: 9.0% decrease;

— Use of carry forward surplus: 64.1% increase; and

— Capital improvement reserves: 62.9% decrease.

Allied Universal Technology Services for gatehouse services. The proposal includes surveillance cameras, an integrated license plate reader system, a visitor management system that uses kiosks and automated virtual gate access.

The plan is to have a virtual attendant at the Legacy Boulevard (Country Club) and Waterview Boulevard (Edgewater) gatehouses during overnight hours and at Balmoral Woods Boulevard from 6:30-10:30 p.m. Currently, the gatehouses Legacy and Waterview boulevards are manned with a live attendant 24/7, while the gate at Balmoral Woods Boulevard is manned from 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

The IDA is a board composed of one representative of each of phase one Lakewood Ranch’s five other CDDs. It oversees issues and projects that impact multiple districts, such as operation of Lakewood Ranch Town Hall. Each member district pays into the IDA’s budget according to its proportionate share. Because CDDs 2, 5 and 6 have an interlocal agreement about gatehouse operations, it is included in the IDAs budget.

CDDs 2, 5 and 6 collectively represent residents of Country Club at Lakewood Ranch, Country Club West and Edgewater.

Town Hall Executive Director Anne Ross said a committee will be forming at the end of this month to put forward a recommendation to CDD 2, 5 and 6 supervisors in September. The project is being included in the budget to be adopted next month.

If approved, Town Hall anticipates the new virtual system would be installed in December.

The IDA’s $4.3 million budget has a 1.5% increase over the current fiscal year.

IDA Financial Director Steve Zielinski said the budget includes the gatehouse changes, decreases in Town Hall administrative expenses, a decrease in reserves for capital improvements and the increase for the new gatehouse proposal.

CDD budgets, however, generally are set to decrease slightly.

Zielinski said CDDs 1, 2 , 4 and 6 all are slated for a reduction in assessments because supervisors worried about how residents were being impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most reductions will be made possible by deferring landscaping or scaling down projects.

“They were very cognizant of that and to try to maintain with their same level of assessments or something less if we could work that into the scheme of themes,” Zielinski said. “We were able to decrease four of the five CDDs.”

Only District 5 will see an increase. It is budgeting about $165,000 to address drainage concerns in the Presidio and Riviera sections of Country Club.

Boards will meet to adopt their respective budgets the week of Aug. 17.