The county board is thirsty for daiquiri dollars.
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth, Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie and Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy discussed a Manatee County water taxi initiative and its impact on their wish list of municipal projects during an Oct. 24 Island Transportation Planning Organization meeting at Holmes Beach City Hall.
The county is moving ahead with a water taxi program that will ferry passengers between downtown Bradenton, Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria.
At an Oct. 6 county commission meeting, county administrator Scott Hopes indicated $350,000 of annual funding for the ferry program could come from Coquina Market revenues, tourist development tax dollars and surplus beach concession funds.
Traditionally, island governments wait for surplus dollars from the Coquina Beach snack bar and the Anna Maria Island Beach Cafe at the Manatee Public Beach to accumulate before outlining municipal projects they hope to see funded with the excess revenue.
The revenue pool recently grew to more than $300,000, prompting the mayors to draft a joint letter of support and written request for three projects addressed to the county board of commissioners.
According to an Oct. 25 email from Holmes Beach deputy clerk Michelle Lowe, Holmes Beach government was awaiting an executed resolution from Bradenton Beach before sending the letter to the county board.
County Resolution No. 14-119 contains guidelines for surplus concession fund spending, but includes passages absolving the county board of any obligation to spend the revenue on the cities’ requested projects.
At the Oct. 24 ITPO meeting, Chappie said the county board suspended meetings until after the Nov. 8 elections, prolonging uncertainty about whether Hopes and commissioners will allocate beach concession funds for the water taxi or the mayors’ projects.
Chappie said he was prepared to speak in front of the board in support of using the funds for the island projects.
“It’s a very successful project. Throughout the years, we’ve used it in the spirit of the way the resolution is written and what the funds should be used for, which is to help (all three island municipalities),” he said.
“I think we’ve all been very fiscally responsible with the projects,” he added. “And it’s not that much. I reminded the chairman it took several years to get that almost $300,000. It didn’t happen overnight. So, to start taking money out of that every year, there’s not a whole lot to support a ferry service or the purchase of a boat or two boats.”
Chappie addressed some county officials’ comments that said island municipalities had requested the water taxi service be implemented.
“I like the idea and I hope it’s successful but I just want to make it clear: it’s not as clear cut as the island cities asked for the county to do this and help,” he said. “It was more of a mutual understanding and agreement that this would be a transportation project.”
Titsworth said she couldn’t remember island governments asking the county to carry out the project and pointed out that a Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization analysis indicated the initiative wasn’t feasible.
Sarasota/Manatee MPO executive director Dave Hutchinson, an advisor to the ITPO — the island mayors — said the study indicated the project could work but would encounter challenges “on the land side, related to parking and transportation connections to the water taxi.”
Murphy said he met with former county administrator Ed Hunzeker seven years ago to discuss the water taxi, stressing that the service needed to be practical and affordable.
“It’s absolutely something you need to try and you need to see if we can make it work here, realizing you’re not going to get people with coolers and a bucket of Colonel Sanders to jump on a water taxi and come out here,” he said. “But you can get service workers.”
Murphy cited the barrier islands traffic study, which found that service workers accounted for about 30% of the daily traffic moving across the island bridges.
He said he told Hunzeker the county should treat the water taxi like municipal transit, providing a heavy subsidy to keep ticket prices affordable.
“So, if that’s asking for it, yes, I did ask,” Murphy said.
Know your ITPO
Sarasota/Manatee MPO and DOT liaisons share information with the ITPO members, the island mayors. The mayors rotate the chairmanship and the seat on the MPO.
Titsworth is currently chair and represents the island municipalities on the MPO board.
The next ITPO meeting will be 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9, at Holmes Beach City Hall, 5801 Marina Drive.
The next MPO board meeting will be 9:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 23, at the Venice Community Center, 326 Nokomis Avenue S.