The TDC is firmly onboard.
Following an update on a Bradenton-Anna Maria Island water taxi initiative from Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Elliott Falcione, the Manatee County Tourist Development Council unanimously voted Nov. 4 during its meeting at Bradenton City Hall to recommend the county commission use up to $950,000 of “bed tax” revenue to fund the project.
The resort tax— tourist tax or bed tax — is a 5% levy on accommodation rentals of six months or less.
The TDC advises the county commission on bed tax spending.
The county commission greenlighted the taxi service in mid-October and has been considering spending tourist tax, island beach concession and Coquina Market revenue to subsidize the initiative to the tune of $350,000 a year.
At the meeting, Holmes Beach’s Cedar Cove Resort and Cottages manager Eric Cairns, who occupies a “hotelier” seat on the nine-member TDC, motioned to issue the resort tax spending recommendation.
“I’ve been on Anna Maria Island now for 23 years. At my very first TDC meeting I brought up the water taxi initiative and, because it wasn’t on the agenda, I was kind of shot down,” Cairns said, eliciting laughter from meeting attendees. “This is a fantastic, exciting idea that has a long time been coming.”
Falcione filled the TDC in on timelines for ordering two passenger vessels for the service, boat specifications, the route and schedule, ticket prices, funding sources and expansion potential.
Within the next two weeks, the BACVB will order two 50-foot, 49-passenger pontoon vessels that will be housed west of the Green Bridge in Bradenton.
The boats will ferry passengers from the day dock east of the Green Bridge to the Anna Maria City Pier, Bradenton Beach’s Historic Bridge Street Pier, Bradenton Beach’s Coquina Beach South Boat Ramp and back along the same route.
Initially, the service will operate 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Friday-Sunday.
One-way tickets for adults will cost $8. One-way tickets for seniors and children will be $6 and $5. Children under 3 will ride free.
All-day “hopper” passes, good for a roundtrip, will be $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for children.
Falcione said the BACVB could expand the schedule to accommodate passengers during peak visitation times to the area, such as vacation “season” October-April.
He said the bureau also was researching ways to ferry service workers to the island during season, a priority for area officials.
“Like I told the board of county commissioners, the key word is ‘fluidity’ here,” Falcione said. “We’re continuing to gather feedback from not only the visitors but the residents that live here. We’re going to be working with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association to survey the hospitality industry to really figure out a way how we can get service workers to utilize the water ferry.”
“There’s always a chance we could have a separate system that really just carries the employees from the mainland to the island, so we’re working through those variables. And there are a lot of variables,” he said.
“But it’s important. I’ve heard it from the TDC, I’ve heard it from the board of county commissioners, I’ve heard it from the cities, how important that is to get the workers off the roads and utilize our incredible water assets,” Falcione said.
Ideally, service workers would ride free, he added.
“I can tell you that we have many people I know from many hotels that have difficulty in season having people coming onto the island because of the traffic backups,” Cairns said. “At that point they take jobs somewhere else, they’re set with those jobs, and then they don’t want to come back to the island. So, this is a great idea.”
Boat rides, especially in scenic locations, are “exciting” and “invigorating” experiences about more than getting from Point A to Point B, he added.
“I could see this, over a period of years, expanding and going to Sarasota, going up to St. Pete, Fort Hamer. You can just see that happening,” Cairns said. “It’s just a matter of getting this started.”
“Once people start to experience this and see how well it works, I just know it’s going to be a huge success,” he said.
TDC shuffle
Members of the TDC include County Commissioner Misty Servia, Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant, Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown, Ed Chiles, Eric Cairns, Jiten Patel, Rahul Patel, Dave Wick and Norma Kennedy.
In August, Servia lost her District 4 seat to Mike Rahn in the Republican primary.
Commissioner Carol Whitmore, vice-chair of the TDC, lost to Jason Bearden in the GOP primary.
The board likely will vote on a chair, vice chair and alternate for the TDC at a December commission meeting.
In place of a December TDC meeting, the council will meet with county commissioners at a Tuesday, Dec. 13, work session.
The work session’s time has yet to be determined, according to the TDC page on the manatee government website.
For more information, visit mymanatee.org.
Wow, a tax funded scenic boat tour that will somehow magically limit vehicle traffic in ways that the MCAT bus system is unable to accomplish, so now we can have two tax funded people movers that have insufficient riders to fund themselves.