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Mosaic explains severance tax formula and production outlook; cites potential revenue uptick for Hardee County
Summary
Mosaic senior director Russell Schweiss briefed the EDA on how Florida’s phosphate severance tax is distributed, factors that have reduced recent receipts and how production changes at Mosaic sites could increase Hardee County revenues.
Russell Schweiss, senior director of land and resource management for Mosaic, gave a detailed overview of Florida’s phosphate severance tax at the Hardee County EDA meeting on April 1, explaining how the tax is allocated and why payments to Hardee County have fallen in recent years.
Schweiss described the statute-driven distribution and trust funds supported by the tax and said production efficiency, not new permitted acreage, drives local receipts. “I’m not talking about — when I say that more tons equals more tax receipts, I’m talking about mining efficiency within our permitted footprint,” Schweiss said. He explained production at Mosaic’s South Fort Meade and Ona operations has been constrained by geology and pumping distances but that investments such as an Eastern Extension subsurface barrier wall and additional dragline capacity at Ona should raise production and county receipts over time.
As an illustrative calculation, Schweiss presented a speculative analysis for the Eastern Extension: using an 18 million-ton estimate, he said the county distribution associated with that mining would be about $3,709,000 over the life of the project, with roughly $2,829,000 flowing to the EDA’s share under the existing formula (figures as presented).
Schweiss also presented reported 2023 severance tax receipts and the county split for that reporting year. According to the presentation, Hardee County’s distribution for 2023 was about $1.9 million, with the rural-county distribution shown as about $1.4 million; combined receipts to the county were stated as approximately $2.9 million for 2023. He cautioned that production variability at Mosaic’s mines and statutory allocations affect year-to-year receipts.
Board members questioned details about timelines and the meaning of particular statute provisions; Schweiss said there are roughly five years of mining presently available within the Eastern Extension footprint and that additional permitting could add more years and yield more revenue when mined. He also noted that some pre-1975 mined lands are privately owned and can apply separately for reclamation funds.
No board action was required on the presentation. Schweiss offered to provide a copy of his slides and to meet with board members or staff for follow-up questions.
Ending: The EDA accepted the presentation for informational purposes and asked for the slide deck to be circulated to commissioners and staff.
