Manatee leaders begin planning for how to spend $100 million in COVID-19 stimulus money
Local leaders are beginning to lay out their various plans for the influx of federal dollars coming to Manatee County as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
The stimulus package, passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, stands to send about $100 million overall to the county’s municipalities. In recent conversations with staff, elected officials shared their priorities for those dollars.
Karen Stewart, Manatee’s acting administrator, briefed the Board of County Commissioners at a public meeting on Tuesday. She explained the law’s guidelines, which allow funds to be used on a variety of COVID-related costs, such as losses in revenue and “premium pay” for the government’s essential workers.
What stood out to the board, however, was the ability to use that money to “provide necessary investments in water, sewage or broadband infrastructure.”
“The water and the broadband – these are quality-of-life issues,” said Commissioner Carol Whitmore, who expressed a desire to spend stimulus money on bringing broadband internet service to the outer reaches of Manatee County and increasing the local sewage capacity.
Commissioner James Satcher said those funds could be especially helpful in his district, where the county has struggled to fund infrastructure improvements near Port Manatee.
“This can be used for getting our sewer out to old Parrish on U.S. 301,” Satcher suggested. “The same thing goes for out close to the port where we could potentially use this. I’m very interested in that and would hope we would be able to see something along those lines to solve an issue that has been plaguing us for a while.”
While the extra dollars might seem enticing, Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge warned the board that the American Rescue Plan does include a few caveats. Most importantly, he said, is the clause that says any municipality that accepts these funds may not lower their taxes within the year.
To ensure that they’re spending money in the right places, Van Ostenbridge proposed using the money to build “forever assets,” such as bridges and other long-lasting infrastructure, to support future generations.
“We need to do something for the next generation since they’ll be the ones to pay the bill,” he said, referring to the cost of the stimulus package.
Speaking with the Bradenton City Council on Wednesday, Councilwoman Jayne Kocher voiced similar concerns.
“Basically, we’ve sold our children’s futures with all this money,” Kocher said. “I hope we’ll spend this money with a very futuristic eye – let’s take this money and spend it on the future.”
Councilman Bill Sanders said he would prefer to take a different approach, focusing instead on the “premium pay” provision of the American Rescue Plan. He explained that he believed it would be fair for city workers, especially given the fact that the council approved a pay raise for Bradenton Police Department employees last year.
“Now that we’re getting this funding, there’s probably some people we need to take care of,” said Sanders, who also noted an interest in using some of Bradenton’s $11 million allotment on shovel-ready infrastructure improvements.
Some of Manatee’s smaller cities say they’re still unwrapping the bill’s guidelines. In Palmetto, Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant shared that her vision for the stimulus money is to help support healthy lifestyles by building up or improving the city’s parks.
“The intent is to get people out of their homes, get outside and if you can’t be close with people, you can still be outside and have social distancing,” Groover Bryant explained. “There’s opportunities that we can enhance. There’s a lot that could be done in Palmetto with those funds.”
“I think people are desperate to get outside, and I’m seeing it more and more,” she added.
According to an estimate calculated by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Palmetto will receive $5.7 million. The Palmetto City Commission is expected to begin discussing its plan for that money at an upcoming public meeting.
“I think we’ll come up with a laundry list of items from the department heads and take that to the commission. We can go from there and try to pick those projects of the greatest need,” said Groover Bryant.
In the city of Holmes Beach, which is set to receive about $1.8 million, city officials say they don’t yet know if the stimulus money is flexible enough to help with the sea-level rise issues that they want to tackle.
“We’re just keeping our fingers crossed at this point,” said Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth. “I’m concerned that it won’t be much for small cities.”
According to Titsworth, city staff are still participating in informational webinars to learn more about the bill, but because the city doesn’t run its own sewer or water lines, their spending options appear to be extremely limited. Even with those limitations in place, she said she’s hopeful that the bill can have a positive impact on Holmes Beach residents.
“Even if the city doesn’t get what we’re hoping, if the county can improve their sewer plant and reduce the nutrient loads, that’ll help our bay,” she said. “That’s something I’m concerned about and something we can all benefit from.”
Elsewhere in the islands, the town of Longboat Key is set to receive $3 million; city of Anna Maria, $740,432; and city of Bradenton Beach, $537,464.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
