Manatee County adopts fiscal year 2016 budget

As the county unrolls next fiscal year's budget, effective Oct. 1, officials shift the funding responsibilities of indigent health care to the county's general fund reserves.

By Amanda Sebastiano
| 10:17 a.m. September 25, 2015

East County
News

MANATEE COUNTY — With the adoption of Manatee County’s $564 million budget for fiscal 2016 on Sept. 22, commissioners will change the way the county pays for indigent health care.

For 30 years, the county has paid for indigent health care by using money set aside mostly from the 1984 sale of what is now Manatee Memorial Hospital. But the fund is depleted, with only $700,000 left, said Jan Brewer, county budget division manager.

So this fiscal year, the county will go from using about $7 million from the trust fund and $1.3 million from property tax revenue to paying nearly all indigent health care needs from the general fund.

Pay raises

Out of the additional $14.8 million the county received for increased property values, $5.59 million of it is being set aside for 4% salary increases for county employees.

District 5 Commissioner Vanessa Baugh hopes the money will allow the county to provide raises for staff who saw their salaries remain stagnant since the recession.

“We’re in a situation where if you have an employee who has been with the county 10 years, chances are we’re going to hire someone today who is making more than that other employee, which isn’t right,” Baugh said.

She believes it will take time to get employees’ pay to where it should be, but the 4% raises in this budget will help.

“We’ve got to find a good balance so we can ensure programs we have for residents are run properly and citizens are receiving the quality of life they should have,” Baugh said. “It all works and mixes together. We need to keep employees dedicated to the county that do their jobs well. We don’t want to lose employees.”

District 5 Commissioner Vanessa Baugh, who cast one of two dissenting votes against passing the budget, sees the solution as a temporary fix for a larger issue.

“The health care situation has been discussed for three years and even longer,” Baugh said. “Money can’t keep coming out of reserves; it will be gone in 2018.”

County Administrator Ed Hunzeker said residents need to share the burden of paying for indigent health care now that the trust money has been depleted.

“Taxpayers in Manatee County haven’t had to pay for it,” Hunzeker said. “But now, it’s time to step up. We’ve exhausted our previous source, and we need to move forward to fund that health care in a new way.”

He said using general reserves will buy the county time, but ultimately, it needs to find alternative methods to generate revenue other than relying heavily on property taxes, which fluctuate with the economy. Franchise fees on gas, electric, water and sewer services could generate millions of dollars each year. Stormwater fees, business taxes and an infrastructure sales tax could provide additional revenue.

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].