7.9% tax increase from West Manatee Fire and Rescue District?

I sat down last week-end and took a long hard look at my upcoming property tax bill for 2026. In this notice, the County Assessor compares the assessed value of your property, assessment rate (or millage) and exemptions for the current year versus the prior year’s figures.

I was pleased to see that thanks to the Florida cap on homestead property value increase (determined by the annual percentage increase in the consumer price index) my assessed property value went up only 2.7%. So, that felt like a reasonable outcome.

Looking at exemptions which are deducted from the assessed value to determine your taxable value, the County and Special Districts had a slightly favorable exemption increase of 1.36%, while there was no change for the School District. Can’t tell you why there was a difference between the School District and the County/Special Districts exemption. I’m sure if you call the Assessor’s office they can give you an answer.

Finally, everybody’s favorite topic – millage rates. And these were unchanged for two of the Special Districts and down very slightly for the County, School District and the Mosquito Control District.

This year’s big property tax offender was the West Manatee Fire and Rescue District which saw fit to impose a 7.9% Non-Ad Valorem tax increase from the prior year. This is on top of previous annual increases of 7.5% and 7.4%. How is this justifiable?

Even tax-happy states like Colorado limit their maximum tax increases to population growth plus CPI, which, if applied to Manatee County, would have yielded a 5.2% increase (CPI of 2.7% plus population growth of 2.5%).

I just received my official ballot for the upcoming November election, and I see that there are 6 candidates for the three Fire Commission seats. I will vote for the ones who promise to end this unreasonable tax burden being placed upon property taxpayers by the West Manatee Fire and Rescue District.

Mike Meehan, CFA, MBA
Bradenton