- December 4, 2025
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Manatee County commissioners Jason Bearden and Bob McCann attempted to lower the tentative millage rate by .05 mills at a special work session July 31, but the final vote was 4-2 against the measure.
Instead, commissioners set the maximum rate at 6.08, which is the current countywide operating millage rate. Millage is the tax rate applied to a property’s assessed value.
However, there’s still a chance residents could receive a tax break because the budget and millage won’t be finalized until September, and McCann said he will suggest $3 million worth of budget cuts to make up for the failure to lower the millage rate by .05 mill.
The final rate will be approved Sept. 22 after another work session Sept. 10.
When commissioners reconvene in September, they can set the millage lower than 6.0826, but not higher.
A .05 cut to the millage would save homeowners $15 annually on a $300,000 home and $22.50 on a $450,000 home. Commissioner Amanda Ballard likened the .05 reduction to a “political show” and said commissioners could do a much better job for people by making “real cuts.”
During the work session, Chief Financial Officer Sheila McLean presented commissioners with the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and the final certification of assessed property tax values, issued July 1 by Property Appraiser Charles Hackney.
Property values, estimated to grow by 10%, only grew by 7.09% countywide, resulting in a loss of approximately $15 million in the budget.
“(The reduction) truly has been unprecedented for Manatee County,” McLean said.
In response, McLean presented reduced budgets in the departments that are supported by those taxes.
Over $3.6 million will be saved by eliminating requests for 24 new full-time positions, three of which were for library assistants at the Lakewood Ranch Library. When commissioners decided to nix Sunday library hours during the last budget work session in June, the measure saved over $550,000 by cutting nine additional staff positions.
Some projects in the Capital Improvement Plan were also reassessed as priorities have shifted.
Since the county is purchasing a second administration building in Lakewood Ranch, focus was shifted away from renovating a building on 63rd Avenue East for the Community and Veterans Services Department.
Renovations were initially estimated to cost over $4 million; they’re now estimated at $500,000.
Defunding improvements to 59th Street from Cortez Road to Manatee Avenue took over $51 million out of the CIP, while an over $24 million combined substation for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Medical Services to be built on Lena Road was added.
Plans for Lakewood Ranch Park were also reprioritized. The nearly $1 million destination playground slated for the park was removed from the list of capital projects. Restrooms and two turf fields, at an approximate cost of $4.7 million, are now listed as future projects with no start dates attached.
Two legislative changes are affecting the county's budget, as well.
Starting Oct. 1, House Bill 7031 will repeal the 2% state business rent tax and the 0.5% local option on commercial leases. McLean said the county's impact is a $4.2 million reduction in the local sales tax.
Florida Statute 197.319 allows for homeowners, who suffered catastrophic loss from a hurricane that deemed their homes uninhabitable for more than 30 days, to receive refunds on their property taxes. McLean said Manatee County issued 6,000 refunds that equate to $6.8 million in FY 2025. That loss is shared with the school board, so the county's impact is $3.4 million. McLean noted that the $3.4 million is not final because the tax collector said there are more refunds coming.
"I'm hoping for the best and accounting for the worst," she said.
To make up for the losses, McClean asked the Manatee County Sheriff's Office and the Clerk of Court to reduce their budgets by 3%.
A 3% reduction in the Manatee County Sheriff's Budget equals about $8 million. The same reduction in the clerk's budget equals about $300,000.
Clerk Angel Colonneso noted that her office's budget represents less than 1% of the county's overall budget.
Commission Chair George Kruse said the county could find $300,000 someplace else.
Ballard suggested the funds come from two grant writing positions within the Government Relations department because "appropriations are a zero sum game" right now.
"We're not getting money from the state," she said. "I think at a later date we could revisit bringing those back, but it's a way to fill at least part of that hole without cutting the clerk."
Commissioners voted to only reduce the sheriff's budget.
The $2,544,174,572 budget that was proposed July 31 is approximately $6.7 million higher than the budget that was recommended in June. However, the sheriff's budget reduction is not included in that number because the 3% cut required commission approval first.
