Amendment 3 Is Manatee County's Chance to Finally Live Within Its Means

TL;DR: Voters just gave Manatee County a mandate to right-size its government. There is a clear plan on the table to do it, and it starts with spending, not with new taxes or fees.

Last month I published 25 years of Manatee County and school spending and property tax data. The short version: county spending grew from $460 million in fiscal 2005 to $1.55 billion in fiscal 2025, and about 82% of that growth landed in fiscal 2020–2025. Property tax rates fell over the same period. Rising values, not rate hikes, paid for the bigger budgets.

Amendment 3 just changed the math. Statewide it passed with 62%. In Manatee County it was 65%. Homestead exemptions rise, collections fall, and the growth model that funded the last decade of capital and services has to shrink. County estimates put the hit at about $63 million next year and $113 million the year after. Add the existing reserve shortfall and year one is roughly a $100 million problem.

Commissioner George Kruse has put a clear spending-first plan on the table. What follows is that plan, with his framing and priorities. Start with cuts, not with new taxes or fees. That is the right order, and it matches what the data already shows: the county got bigger because taxable value got bigger, not because voters asked for a higher millage.

Amendment 3 passed with 62% of the statewide vote and 65% here in Manatee County. That is a decisive instruction from the people who pay the bills: after years of budgets that grew as fast as property values did, government needs to cost less.

The numbers are large because the growth was large. County estimates show $63 million less tax revenue next year and $113 million the year after. Add the existing $30-40 million reserve shortfall and the year-one target is about $100 million. Staff's first list of savings came to roughly $20 million, which tells you how much harder we need to look. And we should not wait on Tallahassee to tell us how; the exemption is indexed to inflation and headed toward $500,000 and eventual repeal, so the time to act is now.

This is not a downturn to wait out. In 2008, governments trimmed temporarily and then grew right back. This change is permanent, and that is its strength. It forces the lasting discipline that temporary belt-tightening never delivered. Every decision this year sets the shape of a leaner county for decades.

What stays off the table

The plan does not start with a millage increase that shifts costs to renters and small businesses. It does not start with a new sales tax, non-ad valorem assessments, or any regressive tax shift. Other counties are reaching for those first, which could leave some residents paying more after the amendment than before. Voters asked for affordability, and the people who most need it should not be handed the bill through the back door. Commissioner Kruse has asked staff for lists of assets and obligations, not a list of new taxes, and that is the right order.

Where the savings come from

User-funded amenities. Modest parking fees, launch fees, and updated fee schedules at parks and facilities, so that the people who use an asset help pay for it. The more facilities operate like self-funded enterprise funds, the more tax dollars stay available for core services.
Every budget contributes. The Sheriff will need to bring a material budget reduction, alongside the other Constitutional officers, the courts, the State Attorney, and every part of the county budget. Fire districts will tighten too, though they are funded separately. The heaviest lift falls on the Board's own general services.
A full inventory of what we own. Kruse has requested the complete cost to hold, run, and maintain every library, park, sports facility, the animal shelter, and all vacant land. Non-essential assets should be closed permanently and sold so someone can repurpose them and return them to the tax rolls. The goal is ending the recurring annual carrying costs, not the one-time sale price.
Sell surplus land. Every county-owned parcel we will not build on goes back on the tax rolls, excluding environmental lands bought with voter-approved referendum taxes.
A flatter organization. Consolidate departments, reduce and redefine top-level positions, and share resources.
Private operators. Long-term leases or outright sales for sports fields, animal shelters, Powell Crosley, and anything else that can leave the budget. Speed matters, because 67 counties and 411 cities will be going to the same small pool of operators.
Halt every capital project that has not broken ground. Roads under construction get finished. But new assets become permanent maintenance and staffing obligations, and a budget being right-sized should not take on new ones. This does not close the current gap, but it prevents bigger ones later.
Right-size the reserves. Some reserves are held for projects that will not be built. General reserves are a percentage of a budget that will be smaller, so two months of the new budget is less than two months of the old one. Recalculating now lowers the year-one target.
Unwind all TIFs. Tax revenue is finite, and locking parts of it into small areas is not fair to the rest of the county.
End all interlocal agreements. The county should stop landscaping for cities, paying for school resource officers for a school board still collecting full taxes, and covering expenses for others. Each government funds its own responsibilities.
Discretionary nonprofit funding goes to zero. The children's services millage, though lower, will still cover some programs, and adult services are a federal pass-through. Every funded nonprofit should hear immediately to expect less, and possibly nothing. Affordable housing developers should likewise stop planning on gap financing or incentives.
Extras wait. Sponsorships, parades, movies in the park, holiday events, and fireworks all add up. A needed employee's salary comes before a fireworks display.
Smarter infrastructure. No more new roads or widenings. Impact fees cover construction, but maintenance is forever, and we are already behind on it. Money goes to lower-maintenance traffic relief: intersection improvements, roundabouts, sidewalks, and trails.
Growth that pays for itself. Higher-density infill near existing infrastructure costs less to serve than sprawl, and commercial development adds tax base without adding much service demand. Restricting housing supply would raise prices and rents, undoing the affordability voters asked for. The comprehensive plan changes already contemplate this; enact them and cut the delays and red tape so these projects reach the tax rolls sooner.
A dedicated Sheriff's millage. Ask the state to let law enforcement set its own millage and bring its own referendums. That gives voters direct accountability and gives future Boards predictable budgets.
A state stress test for cities. Insist the state model every city's fiscal viability now, and dissolve charters while cities are still sound, so county taxpayers never inherit deferred maintenance and crumbling pipes from a city that failed slowly.

The approach

Cut to the essentials first. If funds remain, add the most important services and assets back. If the state allows tourist tax flexibility or provides guaranteed funding, more can be restored. Only if a gap remains after all of that does the conversation turn to revenue, and then in the least regressive way possible.

No borrowing, because debt we cannot repay only strains future budgets. No draining reserves, because that delays the work and leaves nothing for storms. No sacred cows, either. Some beloved parks, programs, and long-awaited projects will be affected, and it is fair to say so plainly. That is what choosing lower taxes over more government means, and 65% of us chose it.

Get involved

The Board takes this up Wednesday, November 18 (item #71), with work sessions and public meetings to follow. Draft budgets are due in April, briefed in May, and presented in June. Then the process repeats, because the savings target grows the following year. Show up, send your ideas, and help decide what is essential.

This is not something to fear. It is a budget finally being built around what taxpayers can afford.

Read Commissioner Kruse's original: Amendment 3 Passed. Underlying 25-year spending and tax dataset: Where Manatee's Tax Dollars Go.