While Manatee County’s half-cent infrastructure sales tax will not go into effect until January, county officials are already looking through the list of projects that will be funded with the new revenue to see which can be started first. “We would like to, as we identify those projects, come back to the board and perhaps amend the budget before the end of the fiscal year so we can get started on those projects,” County Administrator Ed Hunzeker said Wednesday. The county’s half-cent sales tax was approved Tuesday by 57 percent – or 98,508 – of the votes, with 43 percent, or 74,854, voting to reject the tax. Along with the approved continuation of the half-cent school sales tax, the rate will become 7 percent on Jan. 1 in Manatee. While impact fees cannot be used to repair existing assests, sales tax revenues can be used to leverage the issuance of debt to finance improvements. The increase will generate enough to address transportation, public safety and parks/community amentity needs as the county faces a deficit come 2018. The sales tax now makes the county’s budget sustainable, Hunzeker said. “It’s going to reduce the reliance on reserves,” he said. “It may not eliminate that in ’18, but should be eliminated by ’19.”
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