Statura Intelligence
Longboat Key begins budgeting for uncertainty
The town of Longboat Key has released a preliminary budget with a $24.6 million general fund. Police and fire are the town’s greatest expenses (61%) and property taxes are the town’s main revenue source (76%). With property tax reform possible in the future and property appraisal numbers lower than expected, the town has pushed some capital projects back, and one commissioner is floating the idea of an increase in property tax millage. No new staff On the town’s website, three open job listings are posted including for a firefighter paramedic. That position is likely to be filled soon as a candidate is finishing up the paperwork, but Fire Chief Paul Dezzi hopes to eventually bring on at least three more to the force. Early in the monthslong budget preparation process, department heads write to Town Manager Howard Tipton with requests for additional funding. Dezzi made the same request he made last year: more firefighters. “The staffing that we have here is the same that it’s been since around 2006,” Dezzi said. Dezzi wrote in a memo to Tipton that Longboat Key Fire Rescue had seen a 35% increase in total call volume over the last decade and that firefighters had worked overtime 217 days to ensure minimum staffing. Dezzi said LKFR’s engines are currently manned by two firefighter paramedics, making the department an outlier in the region. “Most departments now have three-man engines,” Dezzi said. “Some departments in Manatee County have four-man engines.” Longboat Key Fire Rescue firefighter paramedics use a hydraulic tool during a training exercise. Photo by S.T. Cardinal The amount of time spent on each call is also a factor for the requested increase of staff. When an unstable patient needs to be transported to the hospital, that increases the amount of time an ambulance is out, and with it three firefighter paramedics. With current staffing, that means only one firefighter paramedic is available to return to the station to respond to calls while the patient is transported. In 2023, one of two firehouses were out of service 92 times because of patient transports to the mainland. But the fire department will have to make do with its existing staff levels for another year at least. Tipton said “this was just not the year to consider” expanding the number of firefighters, which would cost $134,000 per firefighter per year including pension, benefits and overtime. With preliminary property values coming in lower than expected due to a reduction in assessed values on the Sarasota County side, Tipton describes the 2027 fiscal year budget as “generally pretty flat.” The proposed 2027 budget is $263,722 higher than 2026, or a 1.1% increase. Despite no increases to the number of staff, personnel costs are increasing $887,272, or 4.6%, attributed to raises and rising health insurance and benefits costs. Capital costs carried over The five-year Capital Improvement Plan Town Commission was presented in June has had some tweaks since it received preliminary property appraisal totals. “We were looking at needing to make a $550,000 transfer from the general fund to kind of help cover stuff,” Tipton said. “So we just sent the departments back to the drawing board.” Those tweaks resulted in $516,776 less spending in the first year of the five-year plan. CIP cuts include a trim to the Australian Pine removal program, reallocation of unspent funds from the Quick Point Nature Preserve repair project, and postponed Police Department shower additions and Fire Department office construction. The town of Longboat Key is delaying a $140,000 investment that would determine the future of the Longboat Library at 555 Bay Isles Road. Photo by S.T. Cardinal Also delayed for at least a year is any funding for redevelopment of the town-owned Longboat Library building at 555 Bay Isles Road. Originally, the town had earmarked $140,000 to “develop options/recommendations for future disposition” of the Longboat Library site. Some of the ideas for the Longboat Library space — which is between Town Hall and four Longboat Key Tennis Center courts — included a potential move of the town’s Information Technology department to the space or more courts built for the tennis center. Tipton said the building suffered flood damage from the 2024 hurricanes, so it would likely need to be elevated, especially if it were to house the IT department. With funding pushed back, the future of the site remains uncertain. “The team will evaluate the options and present to the Commission, but likely not for at least another year,” Tipton said. “That’s one of those cans that gets kicked down the road.” A diet for the skinny A good rule of thumb for politicians to remain in the good graces of their constituents is not to propose raising taxes, but Commissioner Gary Coffin is suggesting just that. Coffin asked Tipton in an email how much of a revenue increase the town would see if it raised ad-valorem property taxes from a 1.960 millage to 1.999. It’s a matter of being prepared for the worst, he described. “My focus is, and always has been, number one on the employees and two, on the residents. In an effort to increase our fund balance, prepare for potential emergencies, maintenance within ever-aging systems, I feel that an increase is not a luxury but an absolute priority,” Coffin wrote. “If we are to provide our residents with premier community and exceptional service they have come to appreciate and love, we need to do this, particularly in this politically uncertain state and federal times.” The uncertainty Coffin is referring to at the state level will be decided at the ballot box. Governor Ron DeSantis’ efforts to reduce property taxes would provide some savings for homesteaded property owners, but could be a death punch for some local governments, Tipton said. On the barrier island of Longboat Key, where property values more often than not reach into the seven digits, a $250,000 homestead exemption is not expected to be devastating. Finance Director Sue Smith calculated that the town would suffer a $705,000 loss in revenue in the first year (with a $150,000 exemption) and a $1.4 million revenue loss in year two when the $250,000 exemption begins. “What's a core service to one city is a not a core service to another city, and that's part of the frustration with the state, is that they are kind of applying a one-size-fits-all solution where each community is very different,” Tipton said. “I use a kind of a weight loss analogy. The state says that every municipality and county needs to lose 50 pounds. Well, if you're a city at 150 pounds, you can probably lose 50 and still be alive. But if you're starting at 100 pounds, you're probably going to die. And the state doesn't care.” But while the town’s main revenue source would be cut by about 6%, the impacts to the town could be felt in other ways, Tipton said. Lost revenue for agencies such as the county mosquito control departments, West Coast Inland Navigation District, Sarasota and Manatee counties and nearby municipalities will also impact everyday life on the town of Longboat Key. “If they are needing to reduce their service levels, then as a very lean team out here who has these mutual aid agreements, if we don’t have the aid coming, we need to plan differently for that,” Tipton said. Other line items on local property tax bills are used to pay back debt the town has issued for major infrastructure projects such as utility undergrounding or beach renourishment. Those debts will still need to be paid by the town under the contractual terms even if the revenue decreases. The town currently owes $22.2 million. “If taxable values decrease, a higher mill rate will be necessary to generate the required debt service revenue,” Smith wrote in an email. Yes, property tax reform will hurt local government pocketbooks, but Tipton says the proposed change is also about Tallahassee making decisions for local governments. “This is really less about property tax and more about taking away home rule and local control,” Tipton said. “If your community wants after-school programs, it doesn't matter. You’re not going to get them. If your community wants paramedics, doesn’t matter, you’re not going to get them. That’s what this does. It takes away the ability for local voices and local priorities to create local priorities, and then figure out how to provide those services. It’s beyond frustrating.”