- April 22, 2024
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Manatee County residents have made it known they want more and better infrastructure, and the county commissioners are determined to give to them.
That directive can only be accomplished at a price. A big price.
County commissioners say the major road projects, discussed June 14 at a special meeting to discuss the Capital Improvement Plan for 2023 through 2027, are still in the works, but they are increasing by leaps and bounds every day. The proposed CIP was delivered to commissioners by interim Chief Financial Officer Sheila McLean. A final vote on the CIP will be taken in September.
District 5 Commission Vanessa Baugh said their path is set.
"We're going forward," Baugh said.
With growth continuing in the region, roads are needed to handle the population. But the cost of materials to build those roads and bridges is going to be bigger.
“It’s probably larger than what we’ve had in the past,” Commissioner Carol Whitmore said in reference to the number of projects in the CIP.
The five-year plan is updated each year based on commissioners’ priorities, and its purpose is to list all cases where $250,000 or more is needed for funding.
Among all the capital improvement projects, transportation is by far the most costly. Transportation in the CIP currently amounts to $691,932,050, followed by parks and natural resources at $187,323,185, general government at $67,915,994, public safety at $60,654,165, libraries at $21,673,137, and then technology at $3,790,000, for a total of $2,166,485,372.
Previous capital improvement plans were budgeted at $1,470,502,928 in 2021, $728,680,329 in 2020, and 484,007,903 in 2019.
At-large Commissioner George Kruse said when the CIP was revised about two years ago, inflation rates were less than 1% and interest rates were less than 2%. Now, he said, those numbers have climbed, respectively, to more than 2% and over 8%.
County Administrator Scott Hopes said during the presentation that, therefore, a “rather aggressive” 50% inflation factor was added to the projects.
Whitmore said that as a result of inflation, the funds required for 264 out of 576 CIP projects had to be increased.
Kruse said the roads were essential for the infrastructure, and can't be delayed.
He said the northern and eastern sections of the county will see the most new road development.
The plan is funded through a wide variety of means, with the majority of funds – 33.93 percent – being drawn from debt proceeds from general revenues. Following behind this is facility investment fees at 17.4 percent, and then proceeds from utility rates at 14.69 percent.
Whitmore said the large number of projects results from the board’s decision to use bonds as well as lines of credit to finance much of the plan. She said the line of credit was a decision that she had not seen pursued in the past, and would be kept open for future projects.
“I would say it's a very conservative plan, during a very uncertain time right now, that can be very unstable, so we probably got a little bit ahead of the game,” she said.
Baugh said while building another span next to the Fort Hamer Bridge is not currently on the CIP, she said design work already has begun and eventually it will be added to the CIP.
Roads aren't the only concern.
Whitmore said it is important the plan is addressing public safety.
She said with the expansion of the population, public safety concerns have grown. She said public safety contains beach patrol, code enforcement, EMS, indigent care or jail medical, the Sheriff's Office, and the jail, which averages about 1,000 inmates a day.
Some major public safety items include building an EMS base at Lake Manatee and a larger fleet service station on Lena Road.
Whitmore also said cybersecurity, which has recently become a county initiative, is also boosted by the technology initiatives of the CIP plan including replacements of software systems. She said it is important “because of what's going all over the world.”
Thus far, no motions have been made by commissioners to add any material to the current five-year plan. Nonetheless, commissioners emphasized the plan was still open to revisions based on future events.
“I've learned after being here for so many years that just because something is in the budget today, doesn't mean that you can't do a budget amendment to change it in the future,” Baugh said. “You have to watch the market, see how things are going, and if you need to make a change up or down, then do so.”
Kruse said he expects to see a continued shift of priority in projects, rather than the addition of new projects.
“It'll be a bigger board discussion of what truly are our priorities?” Kruse said. “What are the most pressing projects that are necessary for the community we just need to do right now, whether costs are high or not?”
Commissioners noted that a major addition had occurred during the presentation of the plan, a $30 million expense for upgrades due to the county parking garage, which has structural issues.
“Every time you go to renovate a building, you always find things you didn't expect, and almost always the cost goes up,” Baugh said.
“It's a living, breathing document,” Whitmore said. “We change it all the time — we find another project, and back another project.”
She said all changes to the CIP are implemented through public hearings.
The current "Big Six" set of projects includes three East County projects — Lena Road, Lorraine Road, and Upper Manatee River Road.
Lena Road road will be extended into a two-lane roadway from south of 44th Avenue East, to Landfill Road, so it will run from State Road 64 to State Road 70.
Changes to Lorraine Road include the widening a section to four lanes between State Road 70 and State Road 64, and the addition of traffic signals on Rangeland Parkway, 44th Avenue East, and Player’s Drive.
Upper Manatee River Road will be reconstructed and widened from two to four lanes, from State Road 64 to Fort Hamer Bridge. Greenfield Planation and Copperleaf will see intersection improvements. The bridges at Mill Creek and Gates Creek will be reconstructed while maintaining the same number of lanes.
Other East County projects on plan are the Lakewood Ranch Library, which is under construction and currently is set to open in mid-2023.
The expansion to Premier Park, set to include an aquatics facility, pickleball and racket courts, softball and baseball fields, an amphitheater, and more, is included in the CIP.
Other initiatives are in the CIP to protect the Lake Manatee watershed, including repairs to the Lake Manatee Dam and purchases of land in the watershed. The plan will address needs including the reinforcement of the dam walls, the addition of a new embankment stability monitoring system.
Other projects of significance for the East County include projects on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard such as the traffic light at Balmoral Woods Way and Water Lily Way, as well as a traffic signal at Clubhouse Drive.
