Tourists continued to shell out for Manatee County rentals in August.
The county collected $1,800,682 from its monthly bed tax, a 5% levy on overnight accommodations of six months or less.
The figure represents an 11.91% increase from the August 2023 tourist tax revenue.
Heading into the final month of its fiscal year, the county had earned $29,534,749 and was expected to pass the $30 million mark for fiscal 2023-24, which ended Sept. 30.
Fiscal 2024-25 began with a difficult outlook as Hurricane Helene caused record storm surge locally, destroyed and damaged property, shuttered businesses and brought tourism to a halt on AMI.
Tourist tax revenues for October will be reported in early December and revenues for September will be reported in early November.
Historically, unincorporated Manatee County and Holmes Beach have jockeyed for the top collection spot and that held in August, when unincorporated Manatee accommodations yielded $655,538 or 36.4% of the earnings pie, while Holmes Beach accommodations generated $535,591 in tax dollars or 30%.
Anna Maria sleepovers produced $274,004 or 15.22%, and Bradenton Beach accommodations generated $76,689 or 4.26%.
Bradenton generated $140,670 or 7.81%, Longboat Key produced $105,084 or 5.84% and Palmetto held down the reporting at $13,244 or 0.74%.
The revenues do not go directly to the municipalities where the accommodations generating the taxes are located but instead to a pot that gets portioned out by the county under the advice of the tourist development council.
Per state law, the tax dollars must be used to drive tourism-bolstering initiatives and have funded beach renourishment projects on the island, as well as the construction of the new Anna Maria City Pier and the Bradenton to AMI ferry service.
The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau; the Bradenton Area Convention Center; Realize Bradenton, a nonprofit dedicated to developing downtown Bradenton, and the Pittsburgh Pirates also receive bed tax dollars.
August tourist tax collections:
August 2020: $1,185,575
August 2021: $1,448,333
August 2022: $1,547,956
August 2023: $1,609,103
August 2024: $1,800,682
Source: Manatee County Tax Collector