ANNA MARIA – The Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) again discussed raising the tourist tax at its June 10 meeting at The Center of Anna Maria Island.
A revised Manatee County ordinance would include a measure to increase the 5% tourist tax, often referred to as the bed tax, to 6% on the general election ballot in November to be considered by voters.
The increase was unanimously approved by the TDC at its April 15 meeting. The TDC is a recommending board to the Manatee County Commission.
County commissioners were set to vote on increasing the tax at their April 23 meeting, but the item was removed from the agenda due to a recent change in state law that requires voters to approve the increase.
“So, what happened was we met the revenue criteria for calendar year 2023,” Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione said. “The short-term rental tax has to generate $30 million and we generated $30,091,000, making us eligible to increase the tax from 5% to 6%, which is the maximum allowed in Florida.”
Falcione said after meeting the criteria, they sent a request through the county’s Office of Financial Management to the Florida Department of Revenue, which had to issue a letter certifying that the county had met the required criteria. The letter was issued and the county attorney’s office staff drew up a new ordinance at 6%.
“On the Friday before the Tuesday, April 23 BCC meeting, the Department of Revenue notified the county that the Florida Statute on tourism changed in 2023,” Falcione said. “It now requires any additional bed tax levy to go through a referendum process and can no longer be voted on by the BCC. It took the vote out of the hands of the BCC and now requires the residents to make the decision by a vote.”
Once the county was made aware of this change, the vote was removed from the commissioners’ April 23 agenda.
Falcione said that Manatee County would be the first county in Florida to be subject to this new law, as no other county has reached the required criteria to increase the tax since the change was made. He said he believes had another county hit this roadblock before Manatee, word would have reached his office and the TDC would not have moved forward with a recommendation to the commission.
Discussions continued and a plan was formed at the June 10 TDC meeting.
“Since we were notified about the changes, the county attorney’s office revised the ordinance to apply the new state law,” Falcione said. “That extra 1% will generate $7-8 million dollars for the community. It’s important that me, as your director, continues to educate the residents about the value of tourists and the value of the tax. I need a recommendation today so we can present this to the board of county commissioners and hopefully, they can vote on it by late July. They would then be able to put this on the general election ballot in November.”
Falcione told the TDC that they would then need to register with the Supervisor of Elections by Monday, Aug. 19 to be on the ballot. He also said that if they did not meet the deadlines, or it made the ballot and failed, it would have to wait two years, because the increase is required to be on a general election ballot.
TDC member Jiten Patel brought up concerns about how they would educate the voters on the increase.
“When voters see a tax on the ballot, they don’t want to see an increase,” Patel said. “When we educate them on the ballot, that might impact their decision.
TDC Chair Ray Turner responded to Patel, explaining that he and Falcione had discussed that concern.
“Elliott and I have talked about this, and Elliott has a plan for that,” Turner said. “If a regular resident that’s not up on all these details sees an increase in taxes, they will automatically assume it’s at a cost to them. In this particular case, it’s a real benefit to residents.”
Falcione said he’s statutorily handcuffed and can’t place ads to “sell” the tax increase, but the TDC, county commission, chambers of commerce, local businesses and others with influence in the community can help educate the community. Falcione also doubled down on a statement he made at the April 15 TDC meeting, as well as when he spoke to The Sun about the issue in May.
“There are no plans to market the destination harder with this additional money,” Falcione said. “Shame on me if I ever did that, but you won’t have to worry about that because it won’t happen.”
Falcione said the additional money from the tax would go to community improvements, not bringing more people to the area, especially to AMI, which he admits at certain times of year is at capacity.
Falcione explained where the money goes and how it benefits both visitors and residents by offering maintenance, upgrades and marketing for the following and more:
• Coquina Beach parking lot
• Bridge Street Pier and Anna Maria City Pier
• Grassy Point Preserve
• Anna Maria Bayfront Park
• Beach renourishment (currently 1% out of the total 5%)
• Cortez Village Historical Society
• Myakka History Center
• Bradenton Area Convention Center
• Bishop Museum
• Manatee Performing Arts Center
• Premier Sports Campus
• The Sarasota Bradenton Airport (SRQ) partnership
• Gulf Islands Ferry (water taxi)
The TDC approved the recommendation unanimously and it will be sent to the county commission for a vote.
