Manatee County Commission Approves Final Tentative Budget of $462 million

BRADENTON – Members of the Manatee County Commission unanimously approved the final tentative millage rate of 6.2993 mils instead of the previously proposed 6.3703 mills at Thursday night’s budget hearing. The approved levies are lower than what was advertised on resident TRIM notices that were delivered to households countywide – a difference of $2 million or 0.071 mills.

”The Manatee County Government has become a lot more efficient, and in these economically challenging times, I think we are on the right track,“ boasted Commissioner John Chappie.

When local governments begin establishing their budgets, they are required by the end of August to submit to the state, their maximum proposed millage rate. Throughout the budget process, the millage rate may change many times, however, it cannot exceed the rate given to the state in August. Therefore, many local governments establish a higher preliminary millage rate to provide more room for debate and discussion, and then will reduce that rate upon the final adoption of the budget at the end of September.

”If you watch other governments the hostility that sometimes comes forth out of a budget is indicative of lack of teamwork – everyone has to pull together to get this done and I’m proud that we worked together so well,“ said Hunzeker.

Thursday’s hearing marked the second public hearing on the county budget and the conclusion of a process that began in May. This the first year of a Florida statute requiring a two-step process before officials may approve the final budget for 2011-2012 fiscal year.

This would mark the fifth year in a row that  the county commission has actually reduced taxes. According to County Administrator Ed Hunzeker, that amount is estimated to be nearly 20 percent total. Taxable property values continue to decline and are now equal with what they were prior to 2005.

Most local governments in Florida did not raise property taxes at all and only four exceeded the statutorily mandated roll back rate. Manatee County is 12 percent under the rollback rate. According to Hunzeker, the county is legally able raise the rate by 5.03 without it being considered a tax increase.

”I really believe that if we look around at surrounding counties and how their struggling to balance their budget we see how luck we are to have someone like County Administrator Ed Hunzeker,“ said Commissioner Larry Bustle. ”We only had a half a dozen items that we flagged and that indicates good leadership.“

But the county millage rate has remained the same, meaning funding will be reduced by $7 million since last year. Property tax revenue has gone from $162 million last year to $155 million this year. The only county tax incase will be the voted debt services, which will go up 0.0049 of mill. or 74 cents on a house valued at $150,000. The county millage rate has gone down since 2003 when it was 7.73 mills and has held steady for the past five years.

Three major factors have impacted property taxes in Florida over the last four years: the decline in property values, the implementation of the roll back rates (2007) and Amendment 1 (2008). This year alone counties have reduced revenue by nearly $583 million (6.05%). In four years, that reduction totals $2.5 Billion or 21 percent. These reductions have resulted in major workforce cuts as well as cuts to all levels of service. Manatee County was obliged to reduce their workforce by 94 employees this year alone.

”Reducing these positions was a very stressful and challenging process. No one wants to remove jobs, but we’ve accepted that it is required for us to continue to keep the millage rate consistent,“ said Hunzeker

The board unanimously approved the adoption of Resolution B-12-004 setting final millage rates, Resolution B-12-005 Budget for Manatee County, a Resolution for final Budget for Manatee County Dependent Special Districts, and  Resolution B-12-006 Budget for Manatee County Dependent Special Districts.