Rise in Short-Term

BRADENTON – Over the past five fiscal years, Manatee County has experienced a 48% increase in tourist development tax revenue, according to a presentation given to Manatee County Commissioners by the tax collector's office during Tuesday's work session. While the island cities continue to bring in the majority of revenue, the growth of both hotels and short-term rentals on the mainland (along with efforts to ensure TDC tax compliance among the latter), has brought considerable revenue growth.

The island cities of Holmes Beach, Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach, and the Manatee County portion of Longboat Key brought in a combined $15.8 million in tourist tax revenue in FY2021-22. While that was up over the peak year of 2020-21, in which the island accounted for about $13.3 million, the city of Anna Maria saw a decrease of nearly $700,000 this past year. That dip was attributed to a registration program for short-term rentals in which property owners who wanted to rent on Airbnb and other third-party platforms must first invest.

Manatee County Commission Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge said that Anna Maria's drop-off is proof that regulation costs revenue. Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown respectfully disagreed, pointing out the city's TDC tax growth, while commenting that he felt, based on the number of complaints the city has been receiving regarding short-term rentals compared to the approximately 200 such rentals being reported, that there are many more residents renting such properties than what is being captured by the tax collector.

"I don't have any statistical proof," said Brown, "but I really do believe that we're leaving a lot of money on the table as people are renting these out and causing neighborhood problems."

Short-term rentals continued to dominate the conversation, including questions as to how county government might level the playing field between such properties and the much more heavily-regulated motels and hotels that they compete with.

County attorney Bill Clague explained that there is a difference between a municipality's taxing authority and the very different field of policing through land use and code enforcement, pointing out that the state legislature has passed statutes limiting local government's ability to regulate Airbnb-type rentals.

"Respectfully, I think that's more a question of state law and not what local governments can do to level the playing field between those sides of the industry, given that the legislature has already weighed in and cautioned us about how far we can go in that area," said Clague.

Of the island cities, Holmes Beach saw the largest growth in TDC tax revenue, growing from just over $3 million in 2017/18 to nearly $8.9 million over the past fiscal year.

The growth of short-term rentals and a new downtown hotel saw the City of Bradenton's TDC tax revenue increase from $1.9 million in 2017/18 to $2.36 million this fiscal year. Unincorporated Manatee County, which has the bulk of the county's hotels in addition to a growing number of short-term units, saw similar growth, going from $5.4 million to almost $10.3 million, aided by a growth in sports-related tourism at venues like IMG Academy and the county-owned Premier Sports Campus.

The tourist development tax (sometimes referred to as a "bed tax") is an additional tax that Florida municipalities are authorized to collect on the rental of hotels, motels, apartments, rooming houses, mobile home parks, RV parks, condominiums, or timeshare resorts that are rented for a term of six months or less.

Revenues may be used for capital construction of tourist-related facilities, tourist promotion, and beach and shoreline maintenance, with approved uses varying according to the particular levy. Depending on a county’s eligibility, the tax rate varies from a minimum of 3% to a maximum of 6%.

In Manatee County, the total tourist tax rate is 12%, which is comprised of a 5% Tourist Development Tax that is remitted to the Manatee County Tax Collector, and a 7% sales tax that is remitted to the Florida Department of Revenue.