Manatee County voters will decide whether to support more land conservation for parks, preserves and agriculture in the Nov. 3 general election.
Appearing on the ballot as the “Water Quality Protection, Overdevelopment Prevention, Natural Lands Preservation, and Public Preserves General Obligation Bond Referendum,” the measure asks voters if they want to approve a new property tax to fund local land purchases.
If approved, Manatee County government could bond up to $75 million to buy and protect land from development. The program would be funded through a 0.16-mill property tax.
That tax is estimated to cost the median Manatee County homestead around $34 per year, according to the Trust for Public Land, a national organization that worked with Manatee County to develop the referendum.
The measure aims to preserve wildlife habitat, including for rare and endangered species found in Manatee County like the Florida scrub jay and gopher tortoise. It also looks to protect drinking water supplies, local water quality and recreational space.
The referendum is similar to one passed by 71% of voters in 2020, which has protected over 1,000 acres through new and expanded parks and preserves. Those purchases include a nearly 100-acre expansion of Emerson Point Preserve in Palmetto, the 68-acre Crooked River Preserve in Parrish and the recently approved 545-acre Myakka Valley Preserve in East Manatee County.
This year’s referendum would also bring farmland into the fold.
In addition to parks and preserves, it would allow the county to purchase development rights on agricultural properties, permanently limiting use of the lands to activities like farming and ranching.
Property taxes are a key issue in Florida this election cycle as voters consider Amendment 3, a statewide measure that would drastically cut local property tax bills by expanding the homestead exemption.
But in Manatee County, polling indicates that locals may support a new tax if it goes directly to conservation.
In June, representatives of the Trust for Public Land said their polling found strong public support for funding more conservation and slowing the pace of development in Manatee.
“We believe, based on those results, that a conservation measure on the November ballot stands a good chance of passage,” Casey Bauer, Trust for Public Land’s finance director for Florida, told commissioners at the time.
The County Commission supported letting voters decide the issue, moving unanimously to put it on the November ballot.
In the days leading up to the election, local environmental groups and conservationists are speaking up in support of the referendum.
“As our region grows, the decisions we make today will shape what we leave for future generations,” said Suncoast Waterkeeper, a local environmental advocacy organization, in a statement.
“We have to understand, these lands won’t be available forever. And if voters value conservation, they need to fund conservation,” said Mason Gravley, a Palmetto resident and conservationist who serves as a chair of the county’s Environmental Lands Management and Acquisition Advisory Committee (ELMAC).
The volunteer group is not taking an official stance on the referendum. But if it passes, ELMAC will help the county select and prioritize properties to purchase with the new funding.
The program works only with landowners who are willing to sell their properties. After a price is negotiated, each purchase goes before the County Commission for final approval.
To pass, the Nov. 3 conservation referendum needs more than 50% of the vote.
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