Manatee commission candidates face off in debates

Impact fees, Animal Services, the proposed half-cent sales tax and many other issues took center stage Friday as candidates vying for two county commission seats faced off in advance of the Aug. 30 primary.

During the first of two debates at METV sponsored by the Bradenton Herald, Republican incumbent Vanessa Baugh and GOP challenger Kathleen Grant faced off as they run for the District 5 seat, which covers Lakewood Ranch, Myakka City and other parts of East Manatee.

The three Republican candidates running for the District 1 seat — Corie Holmes, Ron Reagan and Priscilla Whisenant Trace — debated in the second forum as they hope to fill the seat that represents Palmetto, Parrish, Duette, Terra Ceia, Rubonia, Palm View, Gillette and parts of Myakka City.

Because there are only Republican candidates in the District 1 and District 5 races, all voters in the particular district, including Democrats and unaffiliated voters, will be able to cast ballots.

District 5

The two candidates vying for the District 5 seat differed in their views about the proposed half-cent infrastructure sales tax, which will be on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Calling it a regressive tax, Grant said the infrastructure sales tax is putting "the tax cart before the spending horse."

"This is another tax that does exactly the same thing," she said.

But for Baugh, there is a great need for the sales tax revenue.

"I think the property owners have done their share," she said. "We need another source. There is no doubt. ... I think the infrastructure tax is greatly needed."

Development in the county was another point of disagreement for the two candidates during Friday’s forum. Grant said she would oppose “any or all development that exacerbates the problem,” whereas Baugh said “you can’t stop the growth.”

“We need to start identifying and funding infrastructure before we have development that adds to the problem,” Grant said.

In terms of the transportation improvements underway, 44th Avenue East extension “will be changing a lot of the patterns that we see today,” Baugh said.

“We are doing a lot of really good things now,” she said. “We have a lot of roads that are being built.”

District 1

The three candidates facing off to fill the seat being vacated by Commissioner Larry Bustle, who is not running for reelection, differed on their No. 1 priority for District 1.

For Holmes, he said he would like to bring trust and accountability.

“The district has clearly been ignored for some time,” he said. “There are many, many lacking services.”

Growth is the most pressing issue for Reagan.

“We need to make sure we do it properly, smart growth,” he said. “It is primarily doing the right thing at the time.”

As a people’s person, Trace said communication is a priority.

“We need to make sure we talk to people,” she said, adding that Duette doesn’t feel that they’ve been represented. “To me, the biggest issue is communicating and representing people.”

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Manatee commission candidates face off in debates."