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Manatee County hears Trust for Public Land feasibility study on options to fund parks and conservation

Board of County Commissioners of Manatee County, Florida · May 5, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The Trust for Public Land presented a draft feasibility study outlining bonds, a property‑tax millage and a sales‑tax option to fund parks and conservation in Manatee County; staff will commission voter polling and return in the summer with recommendations.

The Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday heard a draft conservation finance feasibility study from the Trust for Public Land that lays out three principal revenue options — bonds, a dedicated property‑tax millage and an increase in local sales tax — to fund land acquisition and parks.

"The feasibility research fundamentally helps us understand what are the finance mechanisms that are available, how much revenue they would generate, and very importantly, what would the impact on taxpayers be," Will Aberger of the Trust for Public Land said.

The study modeled multiple scenarios. As an example, a $100 million bond issued at 4.5% over 20 years would increase annual county…

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