BRADENTON BEACH – To offset a budget shortfall of $350,000 from post-hurricane tax exemptions, city commissioners have voted to add revenue sources that include increases to short-term rental license fees, building department fees and parking ticket fines.
“As a result of the storms, our ad valorem revenue has gone down about 14% this year. To put a dollar figure on that, that’s $350,000 give or take,” City Treasurer Shayne Thompson told commissioners. “That’s driven mainly because of a Florida Statute that allows
for a property owner who can’t inhabit their home for 30 days or more to request an exemption on property tax.”
He said Manatee County has 11,000 people who have requested such exemptions this year. “What the decrease has done is leave the city in a position to have to replace $350,000 in addition to put some in reserves. As we’ve all seen, having a healthy reserve allowed us to
weather this storm better than most,” Thompson said.
He presented a plan that he said was multi-pronged and would raise revenue but not raise taxes.
“One of the prongs is our TPLE (Transient Public Lodging Establishment) license. We’ve had the same fee structures since 2017,” Thompson said. “The reality is we need to raise it.
We’ve come up with a hybrid solution that doesn’t impact the mom and pop that has a duplex that lives in half and rents half.”
He proposed the same fee structure, $150 per year, for a home that has up to four occupants.
“Each occupant above the four would be an additional $100 per occupant. That would shift the burden to, I hate to say it, but party houses,” Thompson said. “The ones that have the largest occupancy are the ones that also cause the most burden on infrastructure and staff.”
He said the city currently has 561 TPLE licenses. Of that number, 192 have four occupants or less.
He said the average occupant count is seven, and in applying the new fee structure, the average cost would be $450 for an annual license.
“In the opinion of staff, we don’t feel we’re burdening an investor,” Thompson said. “The reality is if you’re renting your property for $11,000, $450 or $600 per year won’t deter you from renting it.”
Commissioner Ralph Cole asked how this increase would affect hotels. Thompson said motels and hotels are exempt.
Commissioner Scott Bear asked how the fees compare to other Island cities.
“In Anna Maria they’re looking at redoing theirs right now,” Thompson said. “We’re about half of where they are right now. Looking at Holmes Beach’s model, theirs is current, and they charge $100 per occupant period.”
Thompson addressed the fee structure in the city’s building department.
“We last changed it in 2022. We now have more staff on board more than we had,” he
said. “Bill (City Building Official Bill Palmer) made me aware that by statute we can have reserves for operations of the building department equal to two years of expenses. In that hiatus of fees, we’re waiving fees due to the hurricane, it wouldn’t have put the building department in a deficit position, and we could draw on that reserve. Bill is looking at adding other fees that other cities have done.”
The moratorium on hurricane-related building fee waivers ends at the end of this month.
Thompson said there are some fees in place in Holmes Beach that Bradenton Beach could implement.
“For example, a stop work order in Holmes Beach, if they put a red tag on a door is $500, it they do it twice it’s $1,000. That will be part of the new increased fee structure,” he said.
Thompson said the fees will help build up a reserve so if another storm event comes, the city is not waiting for FEMA reimbursement.
“To bring us competitive with parking lots, we’d be raising the parking ticket fines from $75 to $100,” Thompson said.
He summarized the city’s goal with the increased fees.
“The goal is to put us in a position to break even. The city must have a balanced budget by
statute. And without raising taxes to get to that spot and put $300,000 give or take into reserves for next year. With those things it makes up for that shortfall and it keeps us in a healthy position.”
A motion to approve and direct staff to make changes as discussed for the 2025-26 budget was unanimously approved.
