HOLMES BEACH – Divided and passionate about both critical funding decisions, city commissioners voted to increase the property tax millage rate and not increase the annual stormwater utility fee.
The millage increase decision was made during the commission’s July 25 special meeting, when the 2.1812 maximum millage rate was adopted for the 2025-26 fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. The stormwater fee decision was made during the regular commission meeting that followed.
Millage rate
The proposed 2025-26 fiscal year budget prepared by City Treasurer Julie Marcotte anticipates $23.9 million in matching city expenditures and revenues – a $1.3 million decrease from the $25.2 million listed in the current fiscal year budget.
Applying the 2.1812 maximum millage rate, Marcotte anticipates the city receiving $6.73 million in ad valorem property tax revenues in the coming fiscal year – a slight increase from the $6.7 million in the current fiscal year.
Increasing the millage rate from the current 1.99 mills to 2.1812 mills will offset the 8.33% decline in aggregate property values experienced in Holmes Beach. Property owners will pay $2.18 per every $1,000 of assessed property value and due to lower property values, most property owners will pay about the same next year as they did this year.
During public input, resident Margie Motzer said the city budget increased 212% between 2012 and 2024.
Resident Nancy Deal said the city of Bradenton Beach isn’t raising its current 2.3329 millage rate and is delaying projects and personnel hirings to help offset the decreased property values and property tax revenues. Deal said she lost a car during the 2024 hurricanes and would like to buy a new one but that purchase must wait. She suggested the mayor and commission take a similar approach to their budgetary decisions.
“I hope you can listen to what the residents have to say about how hard it is right now,” she said.
Resident Renee Ferguson said, “As far as the millage is concerned, it just doesn’t seem appropriate to raise it now. People are suffering. A lot of us had to go into our pensions and our savings because the insurance companies didn’t cover a lot of the expenses we incurred. Asking the people to tighten their belts seems unfair. I think the city really has to think about tightening theirs.”
Regarding the proposed millage increase, Commissioner Carol Whitmore said, “The citizens can’t handle it. I can’t handle it. I had to break into my IRA to get an air conditioner. I don’t have insurance because I can’t afford it. We’ve all been through hell. We can’t do this to our citizens this year. We have to be more conservative.”
Commissioners Dan Diggins, Terry Schaefer and Carol Soustek noted the maximum millage rate could still be lowered before the final budget adoption occurs in September, but Mayor Judy Titsworth said the proposed budget is based on the 2.1812 millage rate.
Soustek, Schaefer and Commissioner Steve Oelfke voted in favor of setting the maximum millage rate at 2.1812 mills and Whitmore and Diggins opposed it.
Stormwater fee
Schaefer and Diggins supported the proposed $2 stormwater fee increase and Oelfke, Soustek and Whitmore opposed it.
In June, Public Works Director Sage Kamiya proposed increasing the annual stormwater fee from $2.95 per 100 square feet of property to $4.95 or $9 per 100 square feet. He said the $9 rate would help fund $21.9 million in complaint-driven drainage and stormwater projects over the next five years, with matching grants provided by other agencies covering a significant share of those costs.
During the July 25 commission meeting, Kamiya proposed tiered annual increases that would begin with an increase of $2 per 100 square feet in the coming fiscal year, potentially followed by additional $2 increases during the next two fiscal years and $1-per-year increases during the two years after that.
According to Kamiya, the current $2.95 rate will generate an estimated $862,453 in stormwater fee revenues during the coming fiscal year and a signification portion of that money will be used to maintain the existing stormwater system. Not increasing the fee will limit the city’s pursuit of drainage and stormwater improvements and matching grants and some projects included in Kamiya’s $21.9 million potential projects list will be delayed or discarded.
“Stormwater management is important when you live on a barrier island,” Titsworth said. “That $800,000 isn’t going to buy you very much.”
Oelfke said the city needs to do what it can to support and retain the permanent residents that help create the city’s heritage and culture.
“If it saves one homeowner from moving, it’s worth holding off,” he said of the proposed increase.
Schaefer said the owner of a 5,000-square-foot property currently pays a $147 annual stormwater fee. He said a $2 increase would result in a $247 stormwater fee; and the owner of a 7,500-square-foot property would see their stormwater fee increase from $221 to $371.
Regarding the stormwater-related recommendations made by Kamiya and the city’s contracted stormwater engineer, Herb Raybourn, Schafer said, “I believe we’d be remiss if we didn’t pay attention to these warnings.”
Schaefer said the city should stop spending money on consultants if the commission isn’t going to follow their advice.
After saying she respects Kamiya’s expertise and understands the importance of the city’s stormwater system, Soustek said, “This year, I have had a very hard time, along with everybody else. It’s taken a tremendous amount of insurance money and private money and I can’t, right now, give any more money.”
When expressing his opposition to the stormwater fee increase, resident Win Bishop said the mayor and commissioners need to be more financially responsible by decreasing expenditures and using reserve funds to pay for stormwater improvements.
“There isn’t that many of us that still live on the Island, but you might want to consider what we want,” he said.
Related coverage:
Holmes Beach considering millage increase
Significant stormwater fee increase proposed
