Manatee County officials reduce property tax rate as DOGE audit continues
The Manatee County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) voted to reduce the county’s tax rate this year, creating a modest tax break for residents.
For a property valued at $440,000 — the county’s median single-family house value — the millage reduction would result in a $22 cut in a household’s annual property taxes. Manatee County Chief Financial Officer Sheila McLean also estimated it would result in a $3.7 million reduction in the county’s revenue.
The board’s decision happened during the Sept. 10 budget meeting. It came over a month after the state’s Department of Government Efficiency launched a financial audit due to accusations of wasteful and excessive spending by Manatee leaders.
One of the main rationales for the audit, Gov. Ron DeSantis said during his July 24 press conference in Bradenton, was the rising property tax revenue in Manatee County.
The county’s expected fiscal year 2026 outlook includes a $3.58 billion gross budget, which equates to a $1.36 billion net budget. About $491.5 million of the county’s FY26 revenue will come from property taxes.
Manatee sets property tax rate reduction
At the BOCC’s July 31 meeting, the board approved the maximum millage of 6.0826 and, after that approval, the board could not move to increase the tax.
But at the Sept. 10 meeting, after a discussion about the county’s swelling reserves, Commissioner Bob McCann motioned to decrease the millage by 0.05 mills, which comes out to 5 cents per $1,000 of a property’s value.
“I’d like to drop the millage rate. I would like to give some money back to the taxpayers. I think that we do have the money in the budget to do this,” McCann said.
The board approved the motion by a 6-1 vote, with Commissioner Tal Siddique in opposition. He said the small cut was a “token gesture at best” and said he would rather see commissioners make cuts to capital projects within their districts.
“The fundamental issue here is we have board members that are calling for small, insignificant tax cuts and, at the same time, calling for massive spending increases,” Siddique told the Herald. “I think, at a certain point, what truly being fiscally conservative means is you have to cut spending.”
Siddique said he is also mindful about potential future issues like declining revenues and increasing costs for services and infrastructure.
Commissioner Jason Bearden, who voiced strong concerns about the county’s reserves, supported the millage reduction.
“It may look small right now, but how many times have we cut taxes in the last four years? Three of the last four,” Bearden said. “Over time it does matter, and it does add up. The people want their taxes cut if we have the opportunity to do so.”
Commissioner George Kruse said the county could handle the $3.7 million reduction in revenue.
“I think it’s a gesture of good faith as DOGE is working through, and I think we’re going to have much more meaningful cuts that need to happen next year,” Kruse saud. “I think we are going to be forced to, based upon what is inevitably going to happen up in Tallahassee.”
Manatee budget reserves to reach $1 billion
Another concern DeSantis and state Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia presented as they launched a DOGE audit in Manatee was the county’s growing reserve funds, which are expected to be nearly $1 billion, according to the Sept. 10 budget presentation.
Bearden said the board needs to pay closer attention to the reserves and put them to use.
“This is crazy to me,” Bearden said. “That’s why I’m going to be pushing that we do something to figure out a way to release some of these reserves so that we can spend them on the necessary needs that we need in this county.”
Kruse and McClean emphasized that some of the reserves are tied to certain uses, and the $1 billion can’t be used on anything. For example, Kruse said about $49 million of the reserves comes from tourist tax, and its use is dictated by state law.
According to the county’s budget books, the county’s reserves were about $597 million in FY20. That grew to about $642 million in FY23 and, now to the projected $963 million in FY26.
“I understand some of this stuff is restricted, but we have needs in this county,” Bearden said. “It disgusts me that you guys tell me that we can’t make cuts in our taxes but yet we have a billion dollars in reserves.”
McClean said she expects the total reserve balance to decrease by about $300 million from FY26 to FY27.
She also explained the county’s need to have 60 days of operating expenditures stored in case of emergencies, and the importance of having healthy reserves for events like last year’s hurricane season. The county’s expenditures are over $110 million from last year’s hurricane season, and McClean said staff expects that number to rise to $152 million.
