Manatee County project wish lists compete for revenues

MANATEE -- Sarasota County will spend approximately six times as much as Manatee County on recreation improvements over the next five years.

"This is a good example of the diversification that one county has taken to finance its recreation," Charlie Hunsicker, Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department director, said Thursday evening.

Lack of revenue diversification stands in the way of making needed improvements in the county, Hunsick

er told the Manatee County Citizens Financial Structure Advisory Board.

"We are not competitive with the neighbors in this area," Hunsicker said. "We've got to dream big. I'm dreaming big with the parks master plan. It will be up to the community to say how fast we want to get that."

The board, tasked with finding ways to address Manatee County government funding issues, also heard from the Public Works Department and the Manatee County Sheriff's Office about unfunded improvement projects.

"It's all about what we want it to look like 30 years from now," County Administrator Ed Hunzeker said. "We have some catching up to do because we haven't funded these things previously and we should have."

More than half the major roads in Manatee County have deficiencies, said Clarke Davis, county transportation planning manager.

The estimated cost to fix the deficiencies, primarily functional, on 190 miles of roadway is $1.4 billion. Functional improvements include sidewalks, bike lanes and trails.

Of 88 county bridges, 37 are older than 50 years old. The average bridge lifespan is between 50 to 75 years, Davis said.

"They are getting into the end of lifetime when we need to think about structural improvements -- not just functional improvements," he said.

Hunzeker said transportation needs are the most costly.

"This one in dollars is way bigger than any of Sheriff Steube's issues or the park issue," he said.

A new helicopter, new systems for records management, jail management and field reporting, fleet facility relocation and replacing jail cameras are among Sheriff Brad Steube's top priorities.

"I think your task is very important to this community," Steube said. "I am hoping that you as the group and our community can maybe put pressure on somebody that these are what other counties are doing that maybe we should be doing."

Steube said new buildings are needed for operations such as property and evidence storage.

"We have the space available to build," he said. "It's just a matter of having the money."

Hunzeker said there's not enough revenue to solve all county needs today.

"Some of these things we ought to play catch-up with," he said. "What are the competing needs and which ones are the greatest?"

After hearing about county funding issues, the committee will begin working toward presenting possible solutions at the Feb. 25 meeting, Hunzeker said.

"You are playing a role almost as important or as important as those people who sat around 50 years ago who made the decision to build the dam that they didn't need," he said. "We today have the benefit of that dam. Everything we do around here is thinking out 30 years. What do we want it to look like? What do the people here 30 years from now want?"

Claire Aronson, Manatee County reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7024. Follow her on Twitter @Claire_Aronson.

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 11:11 PM with the headline " Manatee County project wish lists compete for revenues ."