Manatee County works to sell half-cent tax

Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh hosted the first in a series of informative meetings to educate the public about reasons the county is seeking the passage of a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot.

The meeting was held Oct. 4 at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall.

“I came out to hear (the information),” Bridgewater’s Felicia Seedorf said. “It clarified the needs.”

Baugh had said the meeting wasn’t intended to persuade the public to vote yes or no, but rather to provide as much information as possible.

The meeting obviously didn’t convince some who attended a tax is needed.

Summerfield’s Garry Andersen said he still has lots of questions about the tax, and he didn’t believe the county has a solid process for budgeting and planning future infrastructure needs.

“The problem is you can come up with projects a dime a dozen,” he said. “Are they real projects? I don’t know if I got real answers.”

The tax will not be levied on food or prescription medicines. The average Manatee County household is expected to pay about $5 per month in additional sale taxes. Tourism is expected to fund about one-third of revenue.

Manatee County government believes the tax will shift part of the burden of paying for aging infrastructure away from property owners.

If approved by voters in the Nov. 8 election, the tax, which will appear as item No. 6 on the county referendum, would bring Manatee County’s sales tax to 7 cents per dollar, the same as Sarasota County, if the existing school half-cent sales tax is renewed as well. 

The initiative is separate from an effort by the Manatee County School Board to renew its half-cent sales tax.

The county will use revenue from the tax for specific infrastructure-related projects — repair and maintenance of existing roads, sidewalk and lighting projects, equipment for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and parks and libraries.

Two more presentations on the tax are scheduled.

To learn more about the tax, visit mymanatee.org.

MAN ON THE STREET

“I would vote definitely yes. A lot of it is not in Lakewood Ranch, but I live in the county and it needs to be done. Fifteen years is a long time to sign off on, but it’s a mortgage.”
— Don O’Leary, Edgewater

“It’s a variable revenue stream. How do we know what sales are going to be? Property tax is guaranteed. I will not support it. I don’t feel they have a process to do the proper budgeting and planning and vetting of projects.”
— Garry Andersen, Summerfield

“I think it will bring us more in line with other counties and they’ll do good with it. I think it’s great they’re doing it through a sales tax and it’s not just the homeowners.”
— Tara Poulton, Greenbrook

“There’s got to be some sort of tax to fund infrastructure. We’re growing too quickly to handle what we have — our roads, our schools, our police. We need it for a better quality of life.”
— Felicia Seedorf, Bridgewater

“It’s a fair way to pay for it. This way we get all the snowbirds to have to pay.”
— Chris Butch