Manatee County’s 6% tourist development tax (resort tax) is collected from hotel, motel, resort, condo and other short-term vacation accommodations rented for six months or less.
The amounts shown were collected for May and paid to the Manatee County Tax Collector’s Office in June. A third of the tax revenues are spent on marketing the county as a tourist destination and almost 17% is spent on beach renourishment.
In Anna Maria, May tourist tax revenues increased from $318,188 in 2024 to $406,297 in 2025 – an $88,109 (27.6%) increase.
In Bradenton Beach, May tourist tax revenues decreased from $112,803 in 2024 to $93,365 in 2025 – a $19,438 (17.23%) decrease.
In Holmes Beach, May tourist tax revenues increased from $660,167 in 2024 to $620,641 in 2025 – a $20,474 (3.41%) increase.
In unincorporated Manatee County (the areas located outside of the six chartered municipalities), May tourist tax revenues increased from $770,194 in 2024 to $917,906 in 2025 – a $147,712 (19.17%) increase.
In Manatee County as a whole, May tourist tax revenues increased from $2,520,318 in 2024 to $2,520,318 in 2025 – a $349,445 (16.09%) increase.
Tourist development taxes are also collected in Bradenton, Palmetto and the Manatee County portion of Longboat Key. The revenues are controlled by the Manatee County Commission and can be shared with local municipalities to help fund tourism-related projects and enhancements.
MANATEE COUNTY – Republican candidate Tal Siddique won the District 3 Manatee County Commission seat, defeating Democratic candidate Diana Shoemaker.
Incumbent Republican candidate George Kruse won the countywide at-large District 7 county commission seat, defeating Democratic candidate Sari Lindroos-Valimak.
Anna Maria Island voters helped determine the winner of the District 3 race, with District 3 encompassing the entire Island as well as the northern portion of Longboat Key, the village of Cortez and portions of unincorporated Manatee County and Bradenton.
Tal Siddique will serve as the next District 3 county commissioner. – Submitted
In the District 3 race, Siddique received 23,609 votes (60.72%) and Shoemaker received 15,197 votes (39.09%), according to the unofficial results posted at the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections website. Siddique will fill the commission seat currently held by Kevin Van Ostenbridge.
Island voters helped determine the winner of the countywide At-Large District 7 race in which Kruse received 142,920 votes (66.82%) and Lindroos-Valimak received 70,968 votes (33.18%).
George Kruse will serve another four years as the at-large District 7 county commissioner. – Submitted
Island voters also helped determine the winner of the non-party-affiliated District 3 school board race won by Charlie Kennedy. Kennedy received 21,094 votes (57.51%) and his opponent, Jonathan Lynch, received 15,583 votes (42.49%).
Supervisor of elections
In August, Island voters helped determine the winner of the Supervisor of Elections Republican primary race in which former elections office chief of staff Scott Farrington defeated Gov. Ron DeSantis appointee James Satcher.
Running unopposed in the general election, Farrington received 173,936 votes (96.85%) votes and he will serve as Manatee County’s next duly-elected Supervisor of Elections, taking over from Satcher on Jan. 7.
Other county races
In the District 1 county commission race, Republican Carol Ann Felts defeated Democratic candidate Glenn Pearson and non-party-affiliated candidate Jennifer Hamey. Felts received 35,651 votes (64.27 %), Pearson received 14,631 votes (26.37%) and Hamey received 5,192 votes (9.36%). Felts will fill the county commission seat vacated by Satcher in April, when he was appointed to serve as the interim supervisor of elections.
In the District 5 county commission race, Republican candidate Bob McCann defeated non-party-affiliated candidate Joseph Di Bartolomeo. McCann received 41,229 votes (72.4 %) and Di Bartolomeo received 15,717 votes (27.6 %). McCann will assume the county commission seat currently held by Commissioner Ray Turner.
In the non-party-affiliated District 1 school board race won by Heather Fulton, Fulton received 28,573 votes (57.57%) and Mark Stanoch received 21,060 votes (42.43%).
Manatee County voters approved a county referendum to increase from 5% to 6% the county tourist development tax collected on hotel, motel, resort and short-term vacation rental stays. On that referendum question, 141,803 county voters (68.04%) supported the tourist tax increase and 66,603 county voters (31.96%) opposed it.
Manatee County voters overwhelmingly supported renewing the school district’s 1-mill property tax assessment that generates additional property tax revenues for the county school system, with 171,321 county voters (82.55%) supporting the tax increase and 36,224 county voters (17.45%) opposing it.
State and federal races
In Manatee County, 121,234 voters (54.55%) supported Amendment 3 (legalizing recreational marijuana) and 100,999 voters (45.45 %) opposed the amendment to the Florida Constitution. The state amendment failed because it garnered 55.8% of the vote statewide, failing to meet the state’s 60% threshold.
In Manatee County, 121,814 voters (54.9%) supported Amendment 4 (an amendment pertaining to preserving abortion rights) and 100,066 county voters (45.1%) opposed the amendment. The state amendment failed because it garnered 57% of the vote statewide.
In Manatee County, incumbent Republican District 71 State Rep. Will Robinson Jr. candidate received 43,881 votes (59.9%) and his Democratic challenger, Adriaan DeVilliers, received 29,375 votes (40.1%).
In Manatee County, incumbent Republican District 16 U.S. Congressman Vern Buchanan received 141,756 votes (64.18%) and Democratic candidate Jan Schneiderreceived 79,100 votes (35.82%).
In Manatee County, Republican incumbent U.S. Senate candidate Rick Scott received 136,300 votes (61.1%) and Democratic candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell received 83,392 votes (37.39%).
In the presidential race, 138,876 votes (61.45 %) were cast in support of Donald Trump and 84,555 votes (37.41%) were cast in support of Kamala Harris.
On Election Day, there were 281,798 registered voters in Manatee County, with 227,224 of those voters (80.63%) casting votes in the general election.
MANATEE COUNTY – Holmes Beach city leaders weren’t very surprised but they were disappointed when Manatee County commissioners shot down a funding request recently.
During a June 8 county commission meeting, Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, submitted a request on behalf of all three Anna Maria Island cities for funding from the tourist development tax, also known as the bed tax, collected by hoteliers and vacation rental owners from renters.
The projects proposed by the cities of Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach were approved. One project from the city of Holmes Beach, $41,200 for improvements including boardwalks to be added to an extension of Grassy Point Preserve on land gifted to the city by the Hames family, was approved by county commissioners. However, $282,910 for reimbursement on construction done at a seawall on Marina Drive was not.
County commissioners did vote unanimously to consider a future funding request from Holmes Beach city leaders for bicycle paths and pedestrian walkways leading to a city park if one was presented to them.
Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore said she didn’t support the seawall funding request despite it being approved unanimously for funding by the Manatee County Tourist Development Council because she doesn’t believe it’s tourism-related, which is what the tourist development tax dollars are required by state law to be spent on.
Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said it was disrespectful for Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth to not show up to the county meeting where funding was being requested and to not send a representative in her place.
Titsworth said prior to the meeting that she would be unable to attend due to a conflicting meeting. Holmes Beach Commissioner Jim Kihm was asked to step in for her but was unable to do so due to a conflicting medical appointment and no other suitable replacement could be found in time for the meeting.
Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge said city leaders should consider the consequences of their actions before asking for help from the county. Van Ostenbridge and Titsworth are currently embroiled in a disagreement over public parking for beachgoers in the Island city.
Falcione said the seawall project had been discussed at length with Holmes Beach city leaders and that the TDC had given the funding its full support, a statement echoed by Commissioner Misty Servia who serves on the TDC.
Holmes Beach leaders argue that the seawall is important to tourism because it’s an erosion control seawall that holds up a section of Marina Drive in the city’s commercial center and provides a pedestrian path and access to numerous tour boats and rentals in the adjacent marina. If the funds had been released, city leaders would have used the money to build additional sidewalks and bicycle paths, which also would be used by tourists. Whitmore suggested city leaders come back to the commission for funding of that idea, which was approved by county commissioners unanimously. However, Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said that project was previously shot down for funding by Falcione.
Another concern was that the seawall request to county commissioners didn’t explicitly say there was a city match to the funding. So far, Tokajer said the city is spending $1,581,433 on the city center project including the seawall, pedestrian paths, bicycle lanes, lights and landscaping.
During a June 8 Holmes Beach commission meeting, city commissioners discussed the refusal of their funding request, noting that rentals in Holmes Beach have contributed $30,187,388.29 of the total $42,170,953.57 collected in tourist development tax in Manatee County over the past 10 years. That equals about 70% of the total collected bed tax coming from Holmes Beach while the city has received $100,000 of those dollars in funding for Grassy Point Preserve in the past decade.
“They’ve made us into the largest tourist attraction in Manatee County,” Tokajer said. “They should have to pay for enforcement and infrastructure.”
The county gave $50,000 in the current fiscal year to the city for police patrol and response at the county-owned Manatee Beach. More than 30,000 cars a day come to Holmes Beach on weekends during the summer, Tokajer said.
While Titsworth said she felt “the writing was on the wall” with Van Ostenbridge and his lack of support for city funding due to the ongoing parking issues, Commissioner Carol Soustek said that with all the people coming to Holmes Beach the county should have been better prepared to help deal with the resulting issues after advertising the city as a vacation destination.
“There’s nothing being done by the state or county to address the growth they’re encouraging,” she said, adding that she’s tired of issues getting pushed down the line to the next elected official. Rather than worrying about parking, she suggested county and state leaders be concerned about whether the area’s infrastructure, including pipes, clean water supply and seawalls, can handle the extra strain put on it by inviting so many additional people to one place.
One thing Holmes Beach commissioners agreed on though is that they all support Titsworth as the city’s leader in discussions with the county.
“Thanks, you guys,” Titsworth said. “It’s been a hard week and I really appreciate your support.”
