Manatee County Administrator's presents $710 million recommended budget for coming year
MANATEE COUNTY, FL (June 26, 2020) – Manatee County Administrator Cheri Coryea today presented County Commissioners with a $710.7 million net budget for next year. The budget is a slight reduction from the current year due to a host of unknowns presented by the global pandemic, but it includes funding for new Sheriff's Office deputies, two new ambulance units and a host of long-needed transportation improvements throughout Manatee County.
Manatee Sheriff's Office budget includes 12 new positions, including six patrol deputies, two court security deputies, a new domestic violence unit detective and a resource assistant program deputy to assist with the homeless, among others. MSO will also receive $200,000 for de-escalation training to assist front-line responders in handling difficult situations.
Administrator Coryea's budget proposes no property tax rate increase. Countywide property values have risen 7.1 percent, helping to offset sales tax and tourism tax revenues that have been reduced sharply by the global COVID-19 pandemic. With additional impacts creating uncertainty for the future, the Administrator's recommended budget keeps most local spending level with the current year in anticipation with additional revenue losses next year.
The budget is the second of a two-year budget and again invests in six major areas: a continued commitment to law enforcement and public safety; infrastructure improvements (Capital Improvement Program and Infrastructure Sales Tax); employee compensation and workforce well being; enhanced communications; meeting the public’s level of service demands for 2020; innovation and technology investments. The budget renews Coryea's emphasis on a Results First approach that measures direct results through investments.
"Today we present a County Administrator’s Recommended Budget for a year that most likely holds more uncertainty than anytime in recent history," Coryea said referring to the unknown expenses presented by the coronavirus. "Recently, our financial outlook has come into somewhat sharper focus and we are proposing a net budget with a decrease of 3.9 percent to the prior year or $28.6 million decrease to the net budget which include the impacts of COVID-19. Built into this is the expectation that we’ll see a more substantial reduction in revenue during the next fiscal year of 2022."
The recommended budget proposes $158.8 million in road projects including several signature improvements that include:
- $20 million for the final phase of 44th Avenue Extension
- $5 million for 60th Avenue improvements near the Ellenton Premium Outlets
- $24.1 million for Canal Road improvements
- $7.5 million for Whitfield Avenue improvements
- $13.2 million to widen Moccasin Wallow
Coryea said despite the pandemic, Manatee County's population continues to grow. The budget proposal calls for two new ambulance units: a new Myakka ambulance crew and a second ambulance and seven paramedics for 24-hour staffing along University Parkway to improve response times during peak hours.
Two public hearings on the budget are scheduled for Sept. 14 and Sept. 21. All budget materials have been poste
d to the County’s website at www.mymanatee.org/budget
For more information on Manatee County Government, visit www.mymanatee.org or call (941) 748-4501. You can also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/manatee.county.fl and on Twitter, @ManateeGov.