Manatee commission puts money behind public safety

With public safety as the highest priority of the Manatee County Commission, it is reflected in how the county spends its money, according to the county administrator.

“You put your money where your mouth is,” Ed Hunzeker said during a budget work session Wednesday afternoon. “If you say public safety is No. 1, that’s where you put your money.”

This is illustrated as Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is budgeted to receive the largest increase in funding from the general fund in fiscal year 2018. In the current year, the sheriff receives $124 million, but it is recommended in the coming year to increase to nearly $132 million.

Wednesday kicked off a series of upcoming workshops where the county commission will discuss the budget. Hunzeker, along with Jan Brewer, the county’s financial management director, walked commissioners through a number of the approximately 150 funds that comprise Manatee County government.

“This is the first of several workshops in the next couple of weeks to help you and the public understand what’s in this proposed budget,” Hunzeker said. “They are each separate and distinct.”

The workshop comes a little more than a week after Hunzeker delivered his final budget as county administrator, thus beginning the county commission’s budget process. The recommended fiscal year 2018 net budget is $615 million, which does not include Port Manatee. But it does include the additional revenue from the half-cent sales tax, a projected 9 percent increase in property tax revenue and growth in other revenues.

To date, the county has received $5 million in revenue from the half-cent sales tax, which the county will start spending in fiscal year 2018. There will be approximately $42 million in available sales tax revenue available in fiscal year 2018, according to Wednesday’s presentation.

“We have been collecting the half-cent sales tax since January,” Hunzeker said. “We have collected a good bit of money, but we haven’t spent any of it.”

Pointing to neighboring counties, a regional government service center could also be necessary in Manatee County in the future, Hunzeker said.

“We haven’t had the need, but we are going to get there in short order,” he said. “This is the home office, but people that move to north county, south county and east county don’t have to come here to access services. We are running out of space here in short time frame.”

This story was originally published June 7, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Manatee commission puts money behind public safety."