Business Observer

+ LLSA Chamber announces small business nominees
The Longboat Key, Lido Key, St. Armands Key Chamber of Commerce has announced its nominees for the 2010 Small Business Awards.

Finalists for the Rookie Small Business are Jay Anderson, Edgewater Contractors Inc.; Lee Fox, Save Our Seabirds; Sandra and George Ceshker, Secur-All Insurance Agency; and Stephanie Dubsky, Stephanie Dubsky Photography.

Finalists for the Small Business of the Year (10 or fewer employees) are Sara Hand, Joy … Beyond Freedom; Rhonda Coblentz, Principal Financial Group; Steve Schewe, Steve’s Fitness; and Jeff Vermillion, Servpro of North Sarasota.

Finalists for the Small Business of the Year (11 or more employees) are Beth Callans, Beth Callans Management Corp., and John Faulkner, Cornerstone Solutions Group.

Winners will be announced Thursday, June 17, at the 17th annual Small Business Awards Breakfast.

+ Tax collector collects more than $1 million in April
Manatee County Tax Collector Ken Burton Jr. reported that the county exceeded more than $1 million for a single month in resort tax collection in April. Burton said that the county collected 36.33% more in resort taxes than it did last year.

“We expected to be up due to the 1% increase that went into effect last June, but that can only account for about 20% of the increase,” said Ray Williams, delinquent collections director, in a prepared statement. “The additional funds are from all the hard work that our staff has done to increase our tax rolls — hats off to them all.”

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].