Forward Manatee political committee forms to advocate for sales tax passage

A political committee has officially formed to advocate for the passage of both the school and county sales tax initiatives this November.

The committee, called Forward Manatee, filed paperwork with the Supervisor of Elections Office on July 20. John Horne, Anna Maria Oyster Bar president, is the co-chairman and deputy treasurer of the committee, which is supporting “Manatee County sales tax referendum and/or other issues to be determined,” the committee’s organizational papers state.

“The PAC will be advocating and educating for the betterment of our community,” said Chuck Slater, who is the committee’s co-chairman and the vice-president of the Manatee Community Foundation board of directors.

The committee is still in the “formative stages working the consultant and so on,” and more details should come in the next week or so, said Slater, who was on the county’s Citizens Financial Structure Advisory Board, which recommended to the commission that the sales tax would address the county’s funding issues.

The county is asking voters to approve a half-cent sales tax, which could be used to leverage the issuance of debt to finance improvements, on the Nov. 8 ballot. The sales tax would generate enough to address transportation, public safety and parks/community amenity needs as the county faces a deficit come 2018.

The school board is asking for an extension of its half-cent sales tax, first implemented in 2002. School officials have repeatedly said extending the tax is crucial. The district anticipates needing new schools, especially in the north and eastern portions of the county, and the half-cent sales tax will help fund those projects among others. The half-cent sales tax brings the district about $30 million annually.

If both measures are approved — a half penny for the schools and a half penny for the county — it would raise the sales tax rate in the county from 6.5 percent to 7 percent. Each measure would be in effect for 15 years.

Horne, who is spearheading the school portion of the committee, said both initiatives, if passed, will move the “county in the forward direction that we all want it to go.”

“It will just keep our community in the right direction,” he said. “It is letting visitors share in improving our community as well as property owners.”

Rather than forming two committees, backers decided to jointly advocate for the passage of both since “both are critical,” Slater said.

“We are going to split whatever dollars come to get both passed,” he said. “We think it is necessary to advocate and educate. We feel if they are properly educated that it will be enough advocating for it.”

School board chairwoman Karen Carpenter said she was pleased Horne would be taking on this responsibility. In addition to his work with Anna Maria Oyster Bar, Horne served on the school district’s superintendent search before the district hired now-retired Superintendent Rick Mills.

“He knows a whole lot about education and the value of education,” Carpenter said. “This is exciting.”

Manatee County Commission Chairwoman Vanessa Baugh said Monday morning that she didn’t know anything about the committee forming.

“I’m not exactly sure what they are planning to do or how they are planning to do it,” she said. “I’m basically staying at this point kind of neutral. The county commission voted for the people to decide. I don’t think it is right that we should try to influence the public. That’s what this is all about what the people want.”

The county is working on additional improvements to its educational website on the proposed half-cent infrastructure sales tax and there will be short videos posted this week to illustrate some of the projects that could be funded by the tax, according to county spokesman Nick Azzara.

“The prevailing sentiment that came out of the Citizens Financial Structure Advisory Board and from the county commission is that we are falling behind on a lot of our capital needs in the county,” he said. “This referendum is about asking the public to invest in the county’s future. The hope is that they will see the benefit in their investment.”

Educating the county’s workforce is also a focus so the employees know what the sales tax is about, Azzara said.

“Educating our workforce is one of our key target audiences just to make sure they understand and are engaged and will go out and vote,” he said.

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Forward Manatee political committee forms to advocate for sales tax passage."