- December 10, 2025
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The 2024 hurricanes spared some Longboaters from the worst impacts.
Residents like those at the Tides of Longboat or the Positano condo complexes had an easy go of it compared to others on the barrier island. These are two examples of condos that have garage space on the ground level with the living units above.
Elevated units like that are more resistant to the storm surge that devastated other properties on the barrier island. So, it may have come as a surprise when some residents’ annual property tax bill came in the mail this August with a steep discount.
One resident who wished to remain anonymous said he assumed there must have been a mistake. His bill had gone from more than $20,000 in 2024 to about $6,700 this year.
The reduced property tax bill was a result of a greatly reduced property value assessment by the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s office. In 2024, MCPA valued the three-bed, three-bath condo unit at $1.4 million. The 2025 value dropped to less than $450,000, a 69% decrease despite the unit’s lack of storm damage.
Another elevated three-bed, three-bath condo nearby also had a 69% decrease in appraised value. The 2025 value was 60% less than what the condo sold for 19 years ago. According to the property’s MCPA property record card, the last time the property appraiser inspected the unit was in 2023, and the town issued no storm repair permits for that property.
A lower tax bill probably isn’t something a resident would complain about, but the town is concerned.
Property taxes account for 75% of the town’s revenue, a vital funding mechanism for the town to pay for its services, a majority of which go toward police and fire response. Plus, the town had just withdrawn about $8 million from its reserves to pay for storm repairs and cleanup efforts.
“And with potential property tax reform on the horizon, starting from a deficit situation, it’s concerning,” Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton said.
Longboat leaders knew the town’s main revenue source would take a hit after hurricanes Helene and Milton caused devastating impacts across the entire barrier island.
Because storm surge affected hundreds of properties across the barrier island, people expected a reduction in value, and it made sense.
When Town Commissioner Debra Williams received her property tax bill in the mail, seeing a slight reduction in her bill sparked her curiosity. She began looking at her neighbor’s valuations on the property appraiser website.
What she saw raised her eyebrows.
“When I looked at my downstairs neighbors, (all the first level units) had a substantial reduction,” Williams said. “You look at that and you say, well, what’s going on? Property wasn’t damaged, yet they received a substantial discount on the valuation. Then I realized it’s not just properties in my community.”
Tipton said he first became aware of the issue when he was speaking with a resident who shared that their property tax bill had gone down 50%. He asked how bad the damage from the storm was, to which the resident replied, “I didn’t get damaged at all.”
Another pair of eyebrows raised.
Town staff and elected officials are now asking Manatee County Property Appraiser Charles Hackney how his office arrived at this year’s valuations.
“That’s the multimillion-dollar question,” said Williams. “How did they come up with these numbers? Because these are units that had no damage. They were completely habitable.”
On Nov. 19, Tipton wrote a letter to Hackney citing several examples of the valuation decreases of properties with no damage and requesting an explanation.
In an email to the Observer Monday, Hackney said he was out of the office, which caused the delayed response, but his office had received Tipton's letter and was reviewing it so they could meet with the town to answer its questions.
According to data shared by Longboat Key Finance Director Sue Smith, Manatee County Property tax revenue is about 12% lower than it was in the previous fiscal year due to a $295 million decrease in property values.
Tipton wrote in an email to Williams that “I’ve been doing this city/county stuff for a while now, and I’ve never seen any adjustments close to this magnitude.” He said in his letter to the property appraiser that properties that did not experience storm damage received “significant reductions” in taxable values and wanted to sit down with Hackney to understand the process MCPA takes in determining its annual values.
“The Town is concerned that a mass devaluation of the Town’s Manatee County property values does not actually reflect the true property values on the island,” Tipton wrote. “Not every property within Manatee County was adversely impacted by the 2024 hurricanes.”
Longboat Key Planning, Zoning and Building Director Allen Parsons said the town took assessments of damage following the 2024 hurricanes and found that there were about 1,600 properties that sustained “some notable damage.” Of those, 700 had damage that was estimated to be 30% or more of the assessed value of the property.
The Manatee County property appraiser, though, “provided information indicating that approximately 1,400 properties received a code on the tax roll as uninhabitable on January 1, 2025,” Parsons said in an email.
The property appraiser did not use the town’s efforts in surveying the damage, Tipton said.
“They didn’t ask us for any of the damage information,” Tipton said.
The town’s property tax revenue as a whole had a 5% increase from 2024 to 2025, largely due to the St. Regis Longboat Key Resort, which opened in Sarasota County in 2024. Property tax revenue from the Sarasota County side of the island increased $3.9 million. Of that, $2.3 million comes from St. Regis taxation, according to Sarasota County’s notice of proposed property taxes.
Typically, the construction of Sarasota County properties are more recent and thus to higher storm-resistant standards. The brunt of the impacts from the 2024 hurricanes came on the north (Manatee County) side of the island, where older homes and condos are. But town leaders think the change in valuations from county to county also involve differing appraisal methods.
“Sarasota County did not do the kind of valuations that Manatee County did,” Commissioner BJ Bishop said.
Tipton said the town wants to ensure that properties are valued and taxed correctly, not just because of the town’s reliance on the funding source, but for other taxing districts as well.
Local schools, mosquito control, parks and transportation funds are also impacted by reduced values. And then there’s the fairness aspect.
“There were certain people who had no damage and received a significant reduction in property taxes, and then there were others who had no damage and didn’t get a similar discount,” Tipton said.
Bishop has heard concerns from residents about property valuation decreases, she said, adding that property valuations have more of an impact on residents than in their property tax bill.
“In the case of people who own properties that could potentially be hit with storms in 2026 and they have a value that’s not reflective of what the real value of that property is, they’re screwed,” Bishop said.
On Manatee County Property Appraiser cards, there is a “FEMA value” field that has comparable but lower values than the property appraiser’s 2025 valuations.
FEMA’s 50% rule is a National Flood Insurance Program guideline that states that if repairs to a property account for more than 50% of the value of the property, it must meet updated elevation requirements after the repairs and renovations.
Tipton said the town hopes to meet and discuss how to ensure the most accurate valuations. He also wants to plan future budgets and wants to know if property values will return to pre-storm levels. Homesteaded properties may only increase in appraised value 3% each year. The town hopes to have answers to many important questions, including whether those properties can legally return to pre-storm appraisal levels in short order.
“How can we forecast revenues in the future?,” Tipton said. “Is there some magic wand you wave after a year and everything goes back to the way it was, or is this like permanent? It makes a big difference.”
