The Indian Trail Improvement District’s operating budget for fiscal year 2026 will increase by approximately $4.7 million — $19.9 million to $24.6 million — if the ITID Board of Supervisors accepts the spending plan still being shaped by district staff.
If accepted as is, assessments would increase by $118 per acre for 10 of ITID’s 21 units (1 through 5, 7, 9, 10, 13 and 14). Other units would see increases as small as $11 and as much as $230.
Most property owners saw no increase from the 2024 to 2025 budgets with the assessment for most units held steady at approximately $947 per acre. If the supervisors, meeting Monday, July 7, approve the budget as it stands this week, most property owners would pay $1,065 per acre in fiscal year 2026.
ITID Executive Director Burgess Hanson cautioned this week that the budget proposal still was being honed, and the numbers could shift up or down.
ITID President Elizabeth Accomando also has expressed her desire to see assessments remain flat.
The supervisors must pass a preliminary budget at their July 7 session to meet the state’s Truth in Millage (TRIM) deadline. Afterward, millage and assessment rates can be decreased but cannot be increased.
Unlike municipalities, passing a budget is not a two-step process for special districts such as ITID. Only one vote by supervisors is required.
“Everyone wants to hold the line on assessment increases, but that’s not always realistic,” Hanson said.
He blamed much of the proposed increase on a lack of infrastructure replacement from approximately 2009 to 2019.
“That has come back to bite landowners and the board on the nose,” Hanson said. “We’re running [some] tractors that were purchased in 2012 and running them hard — 40 hours a week at minimum.”
Hanson said much the same is true of aging equipment in the district’s 11 parks that were mostly created in the early 2000s.
“We’re playing catch up,” he said. “I don’t know how the board will hold the line on any of this without significant impacts to the residents.”
Significant increases in the budget include:
- $1.2 million to create and fund the Aggregate Department, which will quarry several types of rock from within ITID to combat the fast-rising costs of such materials purchased commercially. The rock will first be dug from the M2 Impoundment Area and later from the M1. ITID Associate Director and Chief Construction Officer Rob Robinson, who is heading the effort, said the program can save the district $2.9 million over the first four years and perhaps tens of millions over the next 10 years.
- $2.1 million for maintenance and improvements of roads and sidewalks, up from $14 million to $16.1 million. The increase is almost entirely driven by expanded work in the M1 Basin. Increases in the M1 total $3.2 million, up from $2.5 million to $5.7 million. That includes a $748,000 grant outlay and $650,000 in engineering fees. Also, in the M1 are line items for $521,235 for equipment and $521,800 for pumps and structures.
- $772,000 for Parks & Recreation, up from $2.568 million to $3.340 million. Some $502,000 is slated for park improvements, including approximately $250,000 to replace the lights at Acreage Community Park North. The money is the first installment of the $750,000 project that will be paid back over three years.
“This is a lot more than changing light bulbs,” Hanson said. “These lights were installed in about 1997, so they’re nearing 30 years.”
Hanson said all the major components of the system would be replaced and LED lights installed.
Also, ITID plans to unfreeze two Parks & Recreation positions, and offsetting that and more by decreasing its contract with Juniper Landscaping by approximately $250,000 to $565,000.
ITID signed a three-year, $2.7 million contract with Juniper in 2023 to maintain all district parks. But under the new plan, Juniper will focus only on the fields and immediate areas around them at Acreage Community Park North and South. District employees will handle the rest of the maintenance at that park and others, other than tree trimming.
The district also plans to construct a multi-purpose field at Citrus Grove Park.
- $602,000 for administration — $3.861 million, up from $3.259 million. At least one full-time “media and marketing specialist” would be created under the budget plan. That person would be in charge of creating, sharing and analyzing information on social media and other platforms, such as television and print, so that residents are better informed about the workings of the district and during emergency situations,
“You’d be surprised how many people don’t know what ITID is,” Accomando said. “This is critical, especially for new people.”
Also, the plan calls for the hiring of a part-time drone specialist and the purchase of a $25,000 drone that would allow workers to inspect canals and other hard-to-reach locations without the need to cut brush or enter private property.
“Using a drone for this sort of thing will greatly improve efficiency,” Accomando said.
Also under administration, after falling sharply in 2025 to $150,000, attorney fees for 2026 are being projected at $300,000.
And in a reorganizational move, the position of chief administrative officer would be created, replacing the chief of human resources. That person would also take on other intra-district responsibilities, allowing Hanson to focus on external issues, such as dealing with county and state entities and guiding the district’s lobbyists.
- $1.4 million set aside to up-front grants from various entities, such as the state and federal governments. The district expects to recoup about $846,000 from grantors.
ITID oversees roads, drainage and parks for some 50,000 residents on 27,000 acres in the Acreage/Loxahatchee area. Within its 95 square miles, ITID maintains 458 miles of roads, including more than 250 miles of dirt roads, 70 miles of sidewalks, 164 miles of canals, 380 major culverts equaling about 8.5 miles, four pump stations, 18 control structures and 983 miles of swales. ITID does approximately 6,700 miles of road grading each year.
