Manatee County Loses $22 Million in State Funding

BRADENTON –The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Florida coffers hard, depressing sales tax revenue and necessitating a billion dollars in cuts to the state budget that were announced Monday. Several Manatee County projects have been impacted to the tune of more than $22 million.

State College of Florida took the biggest hit, including $5 million for its planned Parrish campus and $3.8 million for its Nursing Center of Excellence. The city of Holmes Beach lost $2 million for flooding improvements and reducing stormwater runoff.

DeSantis also cut $1.5 in funding for STEM education at Mote Marine, as well as $1 million for a new training tower for the Cedar Hammock Fire Department, $1 million more for a new Centerstone Psychiatric Residency, and $900,000 in funding for replacing the Green Bridge Fishing Pier in Palmetto.

Manatee Technical College lost $1.3 million for its aviation program, while New College of Florida Master in Data Science lost $1.2 million, plus another $275,000 for its Career and Internship Program. $950,000 was cut for Manatee County Water Quality Improvements with Native Oysters. The Ringling College Cross College Alliance lost $897,000 and Manatee Schools STEM Career Pathways Pilot lost $550,000 in funding.

Pirate City Sports Nutrition Center and Maintenance Buildings lost $500,000, Manatee Educational Television lost $410,000, and the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee Sustainable Space Garden saw $300,000 removed from the budget. The Manatee YDASH Program took a $245,000 hit and the Longboat Key Sea Level Rise and Storm Flooding Assessment program lost $142,000. The North River Fire Department Emergency Response Vessel funding of $80,000 was cut.

The cuts come on the heels of Manatee County's own announcement that its budget would shrink by 4 percent, or $30 million less than the last fiscal year.