Efforts to consolidate services on Anna Maria Island haven’t amounted to much.
But Holmes Beach has found other ways to cut costs for property owners.
In a Sept. 23 letter to state Sen. Jim Boyd and state Rep. Will Robinson Jr., both R-Bradenton, Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth flipped the script by pointing out the city’s recent cost-saving efforts and calling for the state’s help.
Titsworth was responding to an Aug. 28 letter from Boyd and Robinson in which the legislators asked the island mayors to update them on municipal efforts to cut costs for property owners by consolidating services.
Boyd and Robinson asked the mayors to respond by Oct. 1, the first day of fiscal 2025-26.
Titsworth’s letter listed several ways in which the city has worked with Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach to maintain quality services in the face of the devastation wrought by last year’s storms.
Those include:
- Providing emergency inspection services to Bradenton Beach during its hurricane recovery efforts;
- Entering an interlocal agreement with Anna Maria to provide building department and flood plain management services;
- Sharing public works equipment and personnel needs with Anna Maria.
Titsworth also pointed to failed consolidation efforts, such as an interlocal agreement that would have put the Holmes Beach Police Department in charge of policing Anna Maria.
“After careful evaluation and review, it was determined that the upfront costs to train and outfit an additional nine officers, in addition to the annual costs associated with providing services, would not support a decrease in expenses,” she wrote.
Anna Maria and Holmes Beach also considered an interlocal agreement to share response teams and resources for emergency recovery, but determined that “assisting one another would have slowed down responsiveness and quality of service for island residents,” according to Titsworth.
Despite a lack of consolidation, Titsworth noted in her letter that the city cut costs in other ways, by cutting taxes and reducing flood insurance rates for its property owners.
By maintaining the city’s 1.99 millage rate into the new fiscal year despite a drop in total taxable property value, the municipality will collect $592,500 less in ad valorem revenue than it did last year.
Additionally, the city recently increased its standing in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System, from Class 6 to Class 5. The change results in a 25% discount on insurance premiums within the jurisdiction, 5% better than the discount for being in Class 6.
Titsworth asked Boyd and Robinson for their support at the state level by:
- Allowing the use of tourist development tax funds for public safety and infrastructure projects;
- Considering “additional tax to help fund tourism-related infrastructure”;
- Supporting future state appropriations “to mitigate against the threats of future hurricanes and to accommodate public safety.”
The mayor’s letter came up during a Sept. 25 city commission meeting.
Commissioner Carol Whitmore said she had read the letter and believed it did not address the legislators’ call to save costs through consolidation. Whitmore suggested the city push for an interlocal agreement that would have their building official, Neal Schwartz, provide services for all three island municipalities.
However, Titsworth said she did not want to spread the building department too thin and suggested further cost savings could be achieved at the state level.
“We’re working hard to find every penny we can to decrease the expense to live in the city,” the mayor said. “We’re doing as much as we can.”