- October 7, 2024
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The estimate for damage from Hurricane Helene in unincorporated Manatee County alone is $350 million and climbing, but taxpayers can expect insurance companies, state funds and federal funds to cover a large portion of the damage.
“The question is, when will those federal and state dollars get to us,” Commissioner George Kruse said. “It’s certainly never good when a storm is so significant that it meaningfully affects five states because now you’re waiting in line (for federal funds).”
That line could get even longer with Hurricane Milton headed toward Florida and expected to arrive on Wednesday.
The state already is assisting Manatee County with manpower because it owns some of the infrastructure that was damaged. Kruse called Gulf Drive “the single biggest infrastructure issue” left behind by the storm.
Much of the corridor was indistinguishable from the beach because so much sand had washed over it. Underneath, the asphalt was torn and cracked in spots. Gulf Drive is not Manatee County’s responsibility. It’s a state road, along with Cortez Road and Manatee Avenue.
By Sept. 30, a press release from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said over 2,100 Florida Department of Transportation employees were working directly on storm response and approximately 60,000 dump trucks worth of sand and debris had been cleared from roadways in Manatee, Sarasota and Pinellas counties.
Kruse said the county roads, such as Palma Sola Boulevard, could have some damage, but he’d been driving around for four days at that point and hadn’t noticed anything major.
“Our infrastructure, that we are responsible for, seems to be in decent shape,” he said. “We didn’t have anything, that I’ve seen either a picture of or visibly, that was an extreme infrastructure event that would cause a significant financial hardship.”
Out of the county's $735,062,672 of reserves, $62,691,197 is earmarked for contingencies. That money will be used to float the cost of repairs until the Federal Emergency Management Agency reimburses the county.
Kruse knows people who worked in recovery after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. He said those reimbursements came in about five years later.
Manatee County also carries insurance, so FEMA works similarly to a secondary insurance policy in that once the damages are assessed and the insurance company determines its payout, the county applies to FEMA for the difference.
Cost sharing comes into play, too, but the percentages haven’t yet been determined by FEMA. After Hurricane Ian, FEMA covered 75% of costs, leaving 12.5% to the state and 12.5% to individual counties. Those percentages for Helene could come back at a 90% share for FEMA, leaving only 10% to split between state and county.
The county’s Risk Management Department opened a claim with its insurance company to get the process started, but Information Outreach Manager Bill Logan said it’s too early to submit a claim because damages are still in the discovery process.
The initial damage estimates came from “drive-by” assessments. The county is in the process of undertaking a “Substantial Damage Assessment,” as required by the National Flood Insurance Program, Florida Building Code and a local ordinance.
Logan said if the cost to repair the structure is more than 50% of its market value, the structure is deemed “substantially damaged” and has to be brought into compliance with current floodplain management standards.
Substantially damaged structures will require permits, so Manatee County is waiving building permit fees for storm related repairs through Feb. 1, 2025.
While FEMA and the state will cover the lion’s share of damages, taxpayer dollars will also be used.
Kruse and Commissioner Ray Turner voted against a reduction of the millage rate on Sept. 24, and according to Kruse, the rest of the board made a mistake not to do the same.
“(Turner and I) are not geniuses. We didn’t guess the storm surge, but we were already pretty tight,” Kruse said. “It wasn’t a good idea to take $10 million out of already depleted reserves. By pure chance, an event that could use the reserves happened.”
However, Kruse said there is a way to recoup some of that lost revenue: Vote to increase the tourist development tax by 1% in November.
Only Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge voted not to put the referendum on the ballot. His reasoning was that he vowed to never raise taxes. However, citizens rarely pay the tourism development tax.
Also known as the “bed tax,” the tax is levied on short term rentals under six months, including hotels and motels.
Since 1986, 1% of the tax has been earmarked for beach restoration and erosion control. Elliott Falcione, the executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said an additional $750,000 each year goes toward beach maintenance.
The county also issues grants to municipalities for projects using that revenue. In 2019, the county granted the City of Anna Maria $1,935,000 to renovate the Anna Maria City Island Pier.
“All these people that are saying, ‘Don’t vote for it, it’s a tax,’ are idiots, and you can quote me on that,” Kruse said. “Every county that surrounds us charges that sixth penny. It just makes sense to improve things for your citizens without using citizen dollars.”
The tax doesn’t only pay for the beaches. Revenues from the bed tax covered $4 million of the $5.2 million Premier Sports Campus purchase. Impact fees paid for the rest. The tax is also contributing over $8 million to the multi-use building, locker rooms and parking lot being added to the campus.
When the commission voted to put the tourism tax referendum on the ballot, Turner said it would accelerate the future work at Premier Park, too.
Kruse said it's more important than ever to collect the extra 1% because the overall collection will be lower over the next year or two while the islands rebuild. Anna Maria Island, Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and Longboat Key account for more than 50% of the countywide collection.
Before voting against the millage reduction, Turner said the county had too many commitments to cut the tax. Kruse said, in this case, the county has too many commitments to not raise the tax.
“We pledged bed taxes for the Convention Center, and we have plans for LECOM Park and all kinds of other things that are all anticipated based upon an assumption of a continuously increasing bed tax,” he said. “This extra penny will at least allow us to capture some of that loss from Palmetto and Lakewood Ranch and from other places.”
Based on projections prior to Hurricane Helene, if approved, the extra penny would have generated about $8 million more in revenues next year. The county lost about $10 million by cutting the millage.
“I’m an optimist,” Falcione said. “We have the wherewithal to weather this storm and pay for the commitments that are in place. The mainland is open for business, and there is incredible work going on out on Anna Maria Island.”
