Manatee County explores idea of adopting a charter

Each new year brings with it a new chair for the Manatee County Commission. 

District 3 Commissioner Tal Siddique, the 2026 chair, brought up the “intriguing” idea of a county charter during his State of the Chair address Jan. 6. 

While commissioners Amanda Ballard and Mike Rahn found the idea of a charter intriguing, George Kruse warned Siddique that he might get pushback from the local mayors and that forming a charter is a multiyear process. 

County charters resemble state and federal constitutions. The commission would have to initiate the charter, and the public would have to approve it at the polls once it is drawn up. 

Siddique noted that a charter would give residents more control over their local government because in addition to having to approve the initial charter, any changes to the charter would also have to be placed on a ballot. 

He offered examples of what could be accomplished with a county charter — setting term limits, stronger protections for rural areas, and establishing recalls for elected officials if needed. 

Following the meeting, he said a charter could give voters more financial control, as well. It could be written into the charter that bonds are only approved by a ballot referendum.

A charter could prevent boards from making major changes with a simple majority vote. 

"It's time to start recognizing that people will get on the board who don't have the county's best interest in mind," Siddique said. "A charter can make it harder to implement big changes because voters have more of a say."

Kruse said he faced a mayoral pushback after his own proposal of a charter in 2021. He joked that six mayors tried to fight him in the parking lot of the convention center, and then explained why the mayors were concerned. 

There are more unincorporated residents in Manatee County than there are residents living in municipalities.

So if “the wrong board was in place,” using a hypothetical, Kruse said the commission could steer the unincorporated voters to have the county take over development rights for Anna Maria Island. 

Commissioners could convince unincorporated residents that building big hotels on the island will bring in enough taxes to lower residents’ taxes, and the islands wouldn’t have enough votes to fight it. 

Kruse supports the idea of a charter, but noted that “the state has become aware that people are using charters to actually have a say in their own county, and they don’t like that.” 

The example Kruse cited in that case came from the City of Sarasota, which tried to push ranked choice voting in 2021. The measure was approved by 77.6% of voters in 2007, but there was no technology to implement it at that time.

Instead of selecting just one candidate, voters were asked to rank candidates in order of preference. If the first results don’t lead to a majority winner, then the candidate with the least votes is eliminated, and the votes are redistributed to determine the majority winner. 

When technology caught up and the city tried to implement the system in 2021, Florida banned ranked choice voting in 2022. 

Regardless, commissioners were in agreement that a county charter was a worthy idea to explore. 

“It’s a great idea to bring forward based on how we’re growing,” Commissioner Mike Rahn said. “We’re going to be a big, sizable county here very shortly.” 

Out of 67 counties in Florida, only 20 have charters. However, those 20 counties account for 75% of Florida’s residents, according to the Florida Association of Counties.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2025 that Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach are the three most populous counties in the state. All three have charters and over 1 million residents. 

Manatee County’s population is hovering under 500,000 residents. Counties of a similar size to Manatee that have established charters are Sarasota, Seminole, Brevard and Volusia.

Siddique plans to bring the idea to a public workshop in March or sometime thereafter.