Yes, you read that headline right. For the first six months of fiscal ’24, Manatee County generated a surplus of $492.0 million. Revenues were 1.017 Billion – up 51% from fiscal ’23, and expenses were $525.0 million – up 10% from fiscal ’23. Contributing to the revenue increase were big jumps in interest income, property taxes, capital improvements fund, and other governmental funds. Subtracting the last two categories as one-time events, the surplus was still an eye-popping $253.0 million vs a surplus of $194.8 million a year ago.
Regular readers of this column may recall that the surplus for fiscal ’23 was a record $294.0 million. So, the County appears to be on a pace to exceed the 2023 record surplus by a substantial margin. The current surplus of $492.0 million exceeds property taxes paid of $374.4 million by 31%, implying that not much of your property taxes will be spent in 2024. Last year, 86.4% of property taxes collected were not spent and instead were invested in money market funds, providing no tangible benefit to Manatee County citizens.
Budget meetings are scheduled for the month of June, and if the fact that your homeowner's insurance is up 60% over the last three years while only a small portion of your property taxes are actually being spent, then attend one of these meetings and voice your concern directly to the County Commissioners. One idea that I have been promulgating for a number of years is a $100 million property tax credit applied to ’24 taxes, which will result in an approximate 25% reduction in fiscal ’24 property taxes with absolutely no negative impact to Manatee County’s already overcapitalized balance sheet.
Mike Meehan, CFA, MBA
Manatee County
