Will Sarasota, Manatee counties lose their luxury living with reduced property taxes?

In watching the boats come toward the finish line June 14 at Nathan Benderson Park in the USRowing Junior National Championships, I couldn't help but think about property taxes.

Yikes. That's just too strange, right?

But this property tax conundrum we all are facing can't be expelled from your head like the water that gets in your ears after a shower. You can turn your head and shake, but it's still in there.

And it isn't going anywhere until November.

Being at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota only exacerbated my fixation with our property tax dilemma. I understand that some residents simply want their two grand from property tax relief, but for many of us, this is, indeed, a dilemma.

I am trying to walk a line here and not take sides, because I understand those who are fed up with what they consider wasteful spending and non-transparency. I get it. Commissioners in both counties are getting an abrupt wake-up call that they need to take a long, hard look at their county's finances.

On the other hand, I love the area where I live and I enjoy all the extras that our commissioners provide by funding projects that would be considered excessive (wasteful?) in other areas of the country. I enjoy our parks and I applaud our efforts to provide services for veterans and those in need. I would describe my personal feeling about property tax as the current system being fair.

But the nagging thought for me on the final day of the championships was whether Nathan Benderson Park would even exist if Sarasota County didn't have access to funds through property taxes, which are used partially to buy and maintain parks. Would the site have been purchased by Sarasota County in 1995?

The $20 million question today might be whether the planned boathouse and events center at Nathan Benderson Park would even be a thought if the current property tax formula was not in effect.

"Whoa," you say. "Sarasota County is using Tourist Development Tax funds to help build that boathouse and events center. Property taxes aren't in the picture."

I don't think it's a reach to imagine that all of Manatee and Sarasota counties' spending is going to be altered if they lose their current source of property tax funding. I realize these are separate taxes with some having specific purposes. But to think they are not interrelated would be foolhardy.

Manatee County spent $17.6 million in construction costs for the Lakewood Ranch Library that was funded through sales tax. If the county didn't have a solid property tax base, do you think that would have happened? Would the land ever have been purchased from Schroeder-Manatee Ranch?

Manatee spent $44.2 million on the almost completed swim and pickleball complex at Premier Sports Campus. That was funded through Tourist Development Tax dollars and parks impact fees.

No way that happens, no matter where the funds originate, if Manatee County is struggling to pay its bills.

Sarasota County's $20 million public contribution to the Mote Science Education Aquarium was drawn from its Tourist Development Tax. Again, it's a project that isn't likely to happen if the county is struggling to make ends meet in other areas. Would Mote have made it happen without the county's support? It's questionable.

All those expenditures came without much opposition from the residents, which kind of tells you that they don't mind going above and beyond on projects that set their county apart.

If you live in Manatee or Sarasota counties, it appears you like nice things and aren't opposed to paying for them. How many times have the residents of the two counties voted to tax themselves to improve education or the environment?

It is a price we have been willing to pay for the lifestyle we enjoy.

Will that lifestyle be altered significantly if the Save Our Homes Amendment passes in November?

It's a fair question.

It's also a question that should have been explained many times over the past couple of years, before such legislation was put to a vote. Although Gov. Ron DeSantis has talked about reducing property taxes for more than a year, this amendment seems rushed to me.

How can something be rushed that has five months before a vote is taken?

Most importantly, counties need to the time to research the impact on their budgets and inform residents what they will need to give up.

Certainly, more time is needed to consider the alternatives. Could or would sales tax be raised? And if the sales tax was raised, would the counties receive the extra funds considering the state draws the guidelines in how that money can be spent.

The state imposes strict statutory controls and oversight on how counties spend their share of sales tax and Tourist Development Tax. Could the state relinquish control to the local governments so they could use those funds in any way they see fit?

Such a move would show the residents that the entire property tax relief slogan is not just an angle in trying to take more control at the state level over local governments.

I liked watching a national spotlight placed on Nathan Benderson Park during the USRowing Junior National Championships last weekend. I like that we don't mind paying to present opportunities for our youth. I like the exposure Nathan Benderson Park will get in 2028 when it hosts the world championships of rowing.

Will reduced funding for our local governments shut down such future opportunities? Standing at the finish tower as national champs were crowned, I thought about our own voting finish line in November.

I certainly don't have the answer.

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