Manatee County will have to dip into its savings account to balance new budget

Manatee County will have to dip into its reserves to make up for an unexpected shortage in property tax revenue.

According to a July 9 memorandum sent to county commissioners, County Administrator Ed Hunzeker said that the new proposed budget for fiscal year 2019 will be $1.397 billion, about $4.7 million less than the recommended budget presented in May.

During the budget process, county staff said they expected property tax revenue to increase by 9 percent over last year because continued growth in the county. In May, the Manatee County Property Appraiser's office gave the county an estimated increase of 7.5 percent.

"Nothing seemed to be slowing down," Hunzeker told the Bradenton Herald on Tuesday. "If anything, it was speeding up."

But this year, taxable value countywide rose by just 8.16 percent, and 8.29 percent in the unincorporated county. That's down from 9.2 percent growth last year.

Hunzeker said last year was the first year the county did not have to rely on reserves to balance the budget. Reserves will be used to make up for that $4.7 million shortfall, and does not affect what the county intends to spend.

Manatee County Property Appraiser Charles Hackney said that with the nearly $1.1 billion in new construction added to the tax roll along with 2,500 new homes, he can't point to exactly why the figure came out to what it was. His office is just in charge of interpreting the market, and that any growth over 8 percent is "pretty healthy."

"I don't see anything that happened in the market that is detrimental," he said.

Commissioners will reconvene on July 31 to discuss setting a tentative millage rate as well as budget items that were flagged. Two public meetings, on Sept. 11 and Sept. 18 at 6 p.m., are set for approving the budget.

This story was originally published July 10, 2018 at 11:07 AM.