Manatee officials OK land conservation tax referendum. Voters will have the final say
Voters will decide whether Manatee County will increase taxes to help pay for conservation lands on the November ballot.
The Board of County Commissioners voted 6-0 to approve the referendum question at Tuesday’s meeting.
Local environmentalists have long urged county officials to buy and preserve land for the public. The county has previously worked with community groups in the past to protect spaces like Perico Preserve, Ungarelli Preserve and the Johnson Preserve at Braden River.
Overall, however, Manatee’s efforts lag behind other Florida counties, according to Will Abberger, the conservation finance director for the Trust for Public Land, an environmental group that works with governments nationwide to preserve land.
“If you look at Manatee County compared to the other 66 counties in Florida, in terms of land conservation, you’re in about the bottom third,” Abberger explained.
Even in the face of COVID-19, Abberger said the group’s polling suggests that there is strong support for the ballot measure. About 67 percent of the residents who responded to the survey said they would support higher taxes to conserve land.
“A number of other counties around the country, despite the economic impacts of COVID-19 and the pandemic, we’re still seeing strong support at the ballot box for when voters are given an opportunity to vote on land preservation,” Abberger said.
The referendum question would add a 0.15 mill property tax to pay for land purchases in unincorporated parts of the county that would protect drinking water, save natural habitats, prevent stormwater runoff and provide parks, according to the ballot language. The funds would be publicly audited every year and land purchases would need to be approved by the county commission.
“It’s said that society is defined not only by what it creates but what it refuses to destroy. We ask Manatee County to define its society,” Christine Johnson, president of the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, told commissioners.
If approved, the tax increase would cost the average homeowner about $29 a year and raise about $5 million a year.
While the board’s vote was unanimous, some commissioners and members of the public felt it was the wrong time to suggest higher taxes for Manatee County residents.
Commissioner Stephen Jonsson ultimately voted in support because he believed in giving voters a say on the matter but he vowed to do everything he could to urge voters to turn it down in November.
“I think it’s a regressive tax, but I do think it’s important that the voters get to vote. It’s going to be my wish and desire that they do turn it down,” Jonsson said. “I think a lot of the timing now is just dreadful with all the unemployment and the people who are renters. This is just going to be passed on to them by the landlords.”
Instead, Jonsson said, the county should be using the funds it already has to pay for parks and other preservation lands.
“I think the county has plenty of money if we want to go out and find the land and pay for it with our checking account,” he said.
Commissioner Betsy Benac said the opportunity to have voters approve a dedicated fund would improve the county’s ability to pay for those lands.
“This is an opportunity to allocate specific funding for this purpose,” Benac said. “This idea that we have millions of dollars sitting around to buy land, it’s simply not true.”
Commissioner Vanessa Baugh also took issue with the timing of the vote, urging her fellow commissioners to wait until the next regular meeting to approve the measure so that the board could be briefed on the latest projections for how COVID-19 will affect the county’s overall budget.
In June, County Administrator Cheri Coryea told the board that the budget would decrease by $30 million due to a coronavirus-related loss in revenue.
“We’re already in a situation with COVID-19 where we don’t know where we’re going to be,” said Baugh.
Other commissioners said the pandemic was all the more reason to give residents the opportunity to pay for more parks and environmental protection.
“The opportunity to experience open space is extremely important, now more than ever,” said Benac. “Getting out and being in nature is an extremely good thing. We need opportunities to do that and people are realizing that throughout the country, throughout the world.”
“This is to improve water quality and buy property along Sarasota Bay and other places in the county where we can preserve what little land we have left before someone buys it and it’s a condo,” Commissioner Carol Whitmore added. “The only way we can afford it is if the people pay for it, and 67 percent positive in the midst of COVID-19 is a pretty telling remark.”
Commissioner Priscilla Whisenant Trace did not vote on the resolution due to a potential conflict of interest.
The referendum question will appear on the General Election ballot on Nov. 3.
