Next steps in Longboat's one county discussion include website, straw poll

As Longboat Key officials continue to consider the possibility of incorporating the town into a single county, Town Manager Dave Bullock says a website for the initiative is on the way, along with talks of a straw poll.

In May, town staff and commissioners began discussing whether to incorporate the Key, which includes parts of both Sarasota County and Manatee County, into a single county.

Longboat is one of four Florida towns situated in two counties, and the largest by more than 2,000 residents. Along with two separate taxation plans for residents, the town’s staff deals with a variety of issues related to the unusual geographic situation, including relations with two county commissions, elections offices and more.

According to Bullock, town staff is developing a website where residents on either side of the county line will be able to determine, by property, how becoming part of the neighboring county will affect their tax rates.

After talks of the one-county possibility began, town officials determined that, based on tax rates for fiscal year 2016-17, that if Longboat was incorporated entirely into Sarasota County, residents currently in the Manatee County portion of the town would save about $2.5 million a year in taxes.

In the reverse scenario, meaning the entire town was part of Manatee County, Key taxpayers currently in Sarasota County would pay an additional $6.2 million.

Now, town staff has started determining how those savings and costs would apply to specific properties. For example, staff has determined that an owner of a property valued at $517,439 on the Manatee County portion of the Key would pay $833.55 less per year in property taxes if incorporated into Sarasota County. These numbers are based on property taxes paid by owners of similarly valued properties in the Sarasota County portion of the Key. 

This information will be available on the new website, which Bullock hopes will be functional by early fall.

“I want it up and running well before any referendum,” Bullock said.

The town manager is referring to a potential straw poll among Key voters to determine the public’s interest in the one-county initiative. Such a referendum would require Town Commission approval, and Bullock expects the earliest the vote could take place is 2018.

Whether Key voters approve of the initiative or not, the decision to redraw the county line would ultimately be up to the state Legislature and require approval from the governor.

At a Barrier Islands Elected Officials meeting July 19, Bullock and Mayor Terry Gans delivered an update about the progress of the one-county discussion.

Gans repeated a familiar refrain on the subject: The location of the county line is a “historical accident,” and discussions of potentially redrawing it are still in early stages.

“We don’t know if or if not being split is best for Longboat Key and its citizens,” Gans said.