Effects of residential self-taxing districts on urban surface water quality

An extensive literature documents the economic benefits associated with improving the quality of inland surface waters, including lakes, streams, and rivers. Efforts to do so in urban U.S. landscapes are often limited due to laws restricting the use of property taxes for surface water management. However, programs in several states allow homeowners to establish residential self-taxing districts through referendum to fund management and improvement activities. This study investigates the effectiveness of self-taxing districts for improving lake water quality, focusing upon a long-standing program in Orange County, Florida. Results from dynamic panel data models estimated with annual measures of total nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, secchi disk depth, and trophic state from >250 lakes over 1970–2018 indicate significant differences in mean annual water quality emerge over time between taxing district lakes and un-managed lakes and that particular district objectives and best management practices are associated with significant reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations.