Property tax issue is a big one for Longboaters

Property tax issue a big one for Longboaters

Our governor keeps talking about eliminating property taxes — except for school taxes.

What most residents of Longboat do not realize is that they are paying a majority of their taxes to support the school boards of Manatee and Sarasota. Using myself as an example, I paid my taxes early to take advantage of the early pay discount. I live in the Manatee County section of LBK. Of the total property taxes that I paid, 42% went to the Manatee School Board. We do not have a school on Longboat, and I would be surprised if there are more than 20 kids on the north end who attend a Manatee school.

For the Sarasota end of LBK in FY23, the Sarasota School Board received $32,288,022. With only 39 students registered, well you can do the math. That's over $800,000 per student. 

Why does LBK have to be the cash cow for both counties?

Maybe we should take a serious look again about becoming our own county.  I urge the taxpayers of LBK to take a hard look at your property taxes. What DeSantis is proposing won't help us much since nearly a half of what we pay is for phantom schools.

Thanks for listening.

— Dr. Warren G Simonds, Longboat Key

Orchestra, SPAC should combine efforts

Both the Sarasota Orchestra and the Sarasota Performing Arts Center are proposing to build separate venues, each costing approximately $400 million. Each is dependent on raising most of that through contributions from the Sarasota community. Eight-hundred million dollars is a lot of money, even for Sarasota. The answer may be to build one facility that accommodates the needs of both organizations. 

What then do we do with the Van Wezel?  

The Burns Court Cinema is well past its best-if-used-by date. The Van Wezel could be repurposed as the venue for a new Burns Court Cinema. It might then be possible for the annual Sarasota Film Festival to have all is programs at one location. 

— Ray Knowles, Sarasota