Manatee County not offering marine patrol dollars

The town of Longboat Key has a budget hole when it comes to funding marine patrol services for the coming fiscal year if Manatee County declines to give the town $30,000 for its marine operations.

Manatee County Administrator Ed Hunzeker informed Town Manager David Bullock in an Aug. 8 letter that he has no plans to recommend funding $30,000 from the county’s reserves to help assist Longboat Key in funding its full-time marine officer position.

Last year, the Manatee County Commission approved a one-time interlocal agreement of $30,000 to help fund the Longboat Key marine patrol division.

Sarasota County already helps the town fund, in part, through West Coast Inland Navigation District grants, approximately $100,000 for Longboat Key’s marine patrol division and that funding is expected to continue.

But, as Bullock noted in a July 18 letter to Hunzeker, “a substantial amount of the marine patrol officer’s duty is spent in the area of Longboat Pass and Beer Can Island”; he noted that the officer spends 75% of his time in Manatee County waters. Bullock also noted that the Manatee County patrol unit has no presence in the Manatee County portion of the town.

Hunzeker, though, made no reference to the importance of the position in Manatee County waters, explaining that the county only agreed to the funding request last year as a one-time offer to assist with a Longboat Key budgeting shortfall after some of the WCIND funds previously used to fund the $130,000-a-year position fell through.

“Recurring funds were not identified by the county, as it was expected that the town of Longboat Key would fully fund these services in the following year’s budget, therefore, I will not be recommending funding for this item to the Board of County Commissioners,” Hunzeker said in his letter.

The letter upset some Longboat Key commissioners, who have expressed disdain in the past for what they perceive as a lack of funding assistance from Manatee County.

Commissioner Lynn Larson sent an email to Bullock Aug. 16, suggesting Bullock go before the entire Manatee County Commission to ask for assistance.

“Unfortunately, this seems to be another example where Longboat citizens are seen as rich people and are expected to pay more than our share of expenses for local government,” Larson wrote in her email. “We have a good working relationship with most of the commissioners, who work hard and do a good job. I believe they will want to help fund the work we do on their behalf.”

Bullock told the Longboat Observer he will continue to work with Manatee County officials to try to secure the funding and will only consider funding the shortfall with town reserves as a last resort.

The commission is also expected to discuss marine patrol funding at a budget workshop scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4.

Manatee County Presence
Town Manager David Bullock informed Manatee County Administrator Ed Hunzeker that the town’s marine patrol officer spends 75% of his time in Manatee County waters. To make his point for a $30,000 funding request, Bullock presented marine patrol officer statistics during the Fourth of July weekend on Beer Can Island, which is considered a Manatee County park even though the county does not monitor the area.

The town recorded 107 vessel registration numbers for the boats that anchored at the island that weekend. Those numbers revealed the following addresses for boat registrations:
Manatee County 56
Sarasota County 17
Longboat Key 3
Other jurisdictions 31
Total vehicle registrations 107