The Existential of Home Rule

Longboat Key, due in part to its exclusivity, and therefore its high aggregate property value, pays approximately $70 million in taxes to Sarasota and Manatee counties each year while receiving little in the way of essential services that are supplied to the unincorporated parts of the counties. Longboat has a budget of $14 million to furnish those essential services we would otherwise receive from the counties if Longboat was not an incorporated town.

If Longboat could manage to get free of the taxing authorities of the two counties, we would save the $70 million in taxes we presently give to the two counties annually. County services such as records keeping, and a few other clerical functions presently provided by Sarasota and Manatee counties, could be easily contracted out in this modern age of computers and the information cloud.

While Longboat was being developed home rule enabled our community to shape and control land development. The result is a beautiful residential island with an appropriate tourism presence. However, now that the island is built-out there are few if any advantages to being an incorporated town, if we have to pay extra for essential government services that we can get at no additional cost if we were simply part of the county.

There are other considerations when examining the ability of a small town to supply the level and quality of services that can be provided by a much larger governmental entity such as a county. I believe that Longboat provides good quality services to its residents. However, it is not possible for a small taxing authority to afford the level of expertise that exists at the county level. I believe that by duplicating services we may not be taking full advantage of the higher paid professional expertise available at the county level. Why are we paying for services twice?

If the need for tight control of land use and development no longer exists, since our community is built-out, and we are spending $14 million a years to duplicate services already available from the counties, is there a need to have a discussion about this?

There are costs for going-it-alone that have financial consequences over and above duplication of services. At present Longboat taxpayers are paying for infrastructure projects that would otherwise be paid for out of the taxes we pay to the counties. Our utility rates reflect a $34 million project to increase water capacity at the south end as well as sewer-line maintenance. Sooner or later, unless the commission and the town manager find a means of cost containment, the beaches will require another $35 million beach project in the next few years. Add to that the pension fund problem, which may cost another $30 million, and our community is looking at $90 million in extra costs that would not exist if we were part of the county, and not an independent incorporated town. That comes out to an extra $10,000 per household for just being a town. Of course that $10,000 is distributed on an assessed value basis so some taxpayers are looking at perhaps twice that amount on their yearly tax bills over time.

The town manager has stated that if the counties took over fire and safety services it would cost taxpayers more. I believe he is correct. The question is not a single service costing more, but the over-all financial cost of being an incorporated town, and the advantages for being so. Are we really better off being a town?

Perhaps it is up to each taxpayer to reach his/her conclusion as the the intrinsic value of being a town. I am not advocating one way or the other. Each resident may already have formed an opinion, an evaluation, about the value of being an independent municipality. However, being a town has its costs.