ANNA MARIA – After last week’s city commission work session, several rental property owners approached commissioners and expressed their displeasure with the soon to be amended vacation rental ordinance.

Thursday’s work session did not provide for public comment, but Anna Maria Commissioners Carol Carter and Nancy Yetter both got an earful before they stepped down from the dais at meeting’s end.

“The whole thing is just absolutely off the wall. It is unreasonable. You’re going to send your property values, along with everyone else’s, right down the tubes,” said duplex owner Michael Trauner, as he waived the ordinance in the air.

Commissioner Dale Woodland stood in the hallway discussing the ordinance with property owners, while others aired their grievances to the media.

Shirley Perez lives in Odessa, just outside of Tampa, and rents out the single family home she owns in Anna Maria.

“This is tyranny. I can manage my own house. I like to have a personal relationship with my renters, and they’re taking that away from me. I’ve been doing it for 42 years and never had a complaint. If I have people in my house it’s my decision, not theirs,” she said.

Perez questions the commission’s desire that all rental occupants present identification upon arrival, a stipulation aimed at registered sex offenders. The ordinance previously required third-party sex offender research, but now allows the property owner or representative to do it.

“This is an invasion of privacy to ask every occupant to present a driver’s license,” she said.

In regard to the requirement that a representative of the property must respond to a complaint, in person, within 30 minutes, she said, “I can’t be here in 30 minutes. I’ve never had a complaint and now I have to be a resident of Manatee County or get a rental agent?”

Over the weekend, Perez reviewed the Flagler County ordinance that inspired the Anna Maria ordinance now being challenged in court.

“Our commissioners added the part about sex offenders, and Flagler County relaxed their rule about living in the county. You now have two hours to respond to a complaint,” she said.

Property owner Ramona Griffin said, “I’m just appalled.”

Judi Trauner, Michael Trauner’s mother, lives in Plant City. She owns two single family homes that are connected by a shared roof and porch. One of the homes is rented to a single tenant year round. Her family has used the property for rentals for 48 years, which she has managed for the past 35.

She thought she would be allowed to address the commission Thursday night, but that was not the case.

After the meeting, she said, “That ordinance is ridiculous. I just don’t see where they came up with all these harsh rules to take care of noise and parking problems. I don’t live in Bradenton and I don’t live in Manatee County, but I manage these properties and I never had a complaint. We have a vacation rental, and we pay taxes too. I think everyone should have the enjoyment of their premises, and they should have peace and quiet. We don’t have pools, and we have a strict maximum occupancy of six people. I don’t know where these people got these cockamamie ideas.”

Addressing the sex offender issue, she said, “I would never go to a place where I have to have my family’s names posted outside the door along with my license plate number; and I can’t blame anyone for not wanting to come to Anna Maria if they think they are going to be policed day and night.”

The vacation rental ordinance is scheduled for discussion by the planning and zoning board at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18, and for a public hearing at the city commission on Thursday Aug. 20, at 6 p.m. Both meetings will allow public comment.

BRADENTON BEACH – City Treasurer and Finance Director Sheila Dalton unexpectedly resigned last week.

City Clerk Terri Sanclemente discovered Dalton’s resignation letter, and the mayor and commissioners received the news less than two hours before 2015-2016 fiscal year budget was to be discussed at the Tuesday, Aug. 11, work session.

Dalton’s absence caused the budget discussion to be postponed until Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 10 a.m.

Resignation letter

“Experiences over the past six months convince me that I must resign from my position. The reason for my resignation is that I am simply not ruthless enough for this city,” Dalton’s letter began. “I do not see myself working for a city which does not share the same beliefs that I do … Most people resist change and yet that is the only thing that brings progress,” she added.

Dalton and Police Chief Sam Speciale recently disagreed on a proposed salary increase. As a wish list item, Speciale planned to submit a department budget that proposed 5 percent salary increases for the commission to consider. The budget Dalton created based on input from all city department heads proposed 3 percent salary increases for the police department and most city employees.

Speciale expressed displeasure earlier this year when Dalton initiated a commission-approved change in employee health insurance providers that is expected to produce significant savings for the city, but it angered employees who preferred their self-insured plan.

Initial reaction

“I had no advance notice that this was going to happen, but the absence of one person does not determine the fate of the city. I do not expect the budget process to be hampered in any way. All budgetary deadlines have been met and will continue to be met,” Mayor Jack Clarke said Tuesday morning.

“We’ll miss Sheila’s sunny disposition, and she did a good job saving the city money,” said Commissioner Jan Vosburgh.

Dalton was hired in January 2014. Her initial $50,000 salary had increased to $55,827 at the time of her resignation. The position is now being advertised with a $43,805 to $66,260 salary range, and applications are available at city hall and the city Website.

Second letter

When Dalton arrived for work Wednesday she was told it would be her last day, with pay forthcoming for the remainder of her two-week notice period.

After performing some requested transition-related tasks, Dalton placed a second resignation letter in the commission members’ mail boxes before she left.

“You win, I have resigned. Every attempt I have made to do what is right for the taxpayers and employees has been met with resistance,” she wrote.

“Because I enjoyed working for the city up until the recall was orchestrated against the former mayor, my decision to resign was not taken lightly,” she stated.

“I remained neutral during the campaign. I could have worked with whoever held the office of mayor because I have respect for the office itself,” she added a few sentences later.

When contacted later in the week, Dalton said, “The recent change in mayors had nothing to do with my decision. I don’t want this to be seen as anything political.”

Financial feuds

“I was chastised in a public meeting for using budgeted monies in one area of the budget for an unbudgeted item in another area,” her second letter stated.

Speciale said this referred to a department head meeting that occurred when Bill Shearon was mayor.

“Ms. Dalton was doing line item transfers within department budgets without the authorization of the department heads. I said I wanted to re-implement the line item transfer forms that require the department head, clerk and treasurer to all sign off on a line item transfer,” Speciale explained.

“Many of the improvements and benefits were met with much resistance and backlash,” Dalton’s letter said, while also acknowledging that she is not a certified public accountant.

Added insight

Later in the week, Dalton said, “I’m not trying to insinuate anything illegal, but expenses were incurred that didn’t necessarily have to be.”

She also said she felt singled out because she was among the few city employees not scheduled to receive a raise. Sanclemente and Deputy Clerk Emily Long are not expected to receive raises either, but they were only recently hired for their current positions,

Dalton said the recent reshuffling of supervisory duties in the administrative office created uncertainty and discomfort and contributed to her decision.

New discoveries

In Dalton’s absence, recently hired Deputy Clerk Marie Montoya continued to perform duties affiliated with the treasurer’s office, and later in the week some additional concerns came to light.

“Following Ms. Dalton’s resignation, it was discovered that we had no access to the electronic payments platform shared with our bank. Therefore we were unable to pay bills or make payroll,” Clarke said.

“The clerk and I spent nearly three hours Friday morning rectifying errors in procedure and accountability. Significant errors and the ongoing circumventing of bank policies were uncovered, and these procedural deficiencies left us potentially without access to our funds. Also in question was the timely and accurate reporting to the bank regarding changes of personal responsibility for our accounts, and a notice received from a different bank stated that agreed-upon minimum balance requirements were not met. At no time have the city’s funds been at risk, no funds are unaccounted for and further review is under way,” he concluded.

To promote the area as a tourist destination, Manatee County commissioners have approved a $12.7 million marketing budget for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.

That’s 60 percent higher than the $7.9 million marketing budget for the previous two fiscal years, 2014 and 2015, and more than Chrysler spent in 2011 on what is said to be the most expensive Super Bowl commercial ever – $12.4 million.

For fiscal year 2016, $5.3 million was approved, with the largest expenditures being $400,000 for McKechnie Field and $286,000 for Website management.

For fiscal year 2017, $7.4 million was approved, including the largest single expenditure of $2.3 million to promote the 2017 World Rowing Championships at Nathan Benderson Park, in addition to another $400,000 for McKechnie Field and another $286,000 for website management.

The marketing budget, which includes funding for international trade shows, advertising agencies and media advertising, is the largest portion of the CVB budget, which has not yet come before the commission for approval. Funding comes from the 5 percent tourism resort tax, paid by visitors staying in accommodations for six months or less.

The Manatee County Tourist Development Council unanimously recommended approval of the budget in June.

Some Anna Maria Island officials and others have protested that excessive tourism marketing is causing residents to leave and is ruining the laid-back, beachfront character of the Island advertised on the county’s tourism Website.

Tourism officials have emphasized that decreasing advertising could cause a reversal of upward trends in local tourism that could take years to regain.

CORTEZ – Manatee County tourism officials plan to turn their successful marketing spotlight on the historic fishing village of Cortez.

The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau plans to “create awareness of the Cortez village community,” CVB Director Elliott Falcione told the Manatee County Tourist Development Council on Monday.

The CVB media team will work to get travel writers to the village to write about what Falcione called “a story and a half ” after his recent meeting with Karen Bell of A.P. Bell Fish Co., during which he learned about the company’s history of shipping local mullet and roe internationally.

Bell offers educational tours of the fish house to raise awareness of the importance of the commercial fishing industry, however, “I’m not looking to ramp up attention. I back a low-key educational effort,” she said after the meeting.

Bell said a lesson has been learned from Anna Maria Island.

“The Island is getting carried away with tourism,” she said. “We benefit from it in a way, but it also causes overkill, and at one point you lose what draws people to the place because there’s too many people. We’re our own worst enemy. Watch out what you wish for or you’ll ruin it.”

“We’re not out there saying, ‘Come to Anna Maria Island for your vacation,’ ” Falcione told the TDC, adding that the county is marketed as a “package brand.” The CVB’s logo lists Bradenton, Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key.

“We’ve been off the pedal from January to April,” he said, the peak season on the Island. “We’re not doing promotions to drive people to the beach. We would be foolish to say ‘come and relax,’ and they come to chaos. That would be compromising our brand.”

Falcione said that when Conde Nast Traveler ranked Coquina Beach as number five in the world this year, the CVB “could have jumped on it” on social media, but did not. The ranking is listed on the CVB website – “one of the ‘Top 10 Island Beaches for Perfect Sand’ by Condé Nast Traveler in 2015” – along with the ranking of “one of the ‘Top 30 Islands in the World’ by Condé Nast Traveler in 2014.”

The TDC meeting, held in various locations around the county, was scheduled for Holmes Beach in August at the request of council members who cited traffic problems on the Island in other months.

Third quarter visitation up

In other business, the TDC learned that tourism visitation was up 5.5 percent in the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 compared to the same period a year ago, according to Walter Klages, of Research Data Services.

About 158,000 people visited the county from April to June, compared to 150,000 in those three months of 2014, the tourism consultant said.

Occupancy was up 1.6 percent to 74.6 percent, while room rates were up 6.8 percent to an average $167 a night.

Nearly 13 percent of the visitors came from the Orlando area, the largest single “feeder” market, followed by Tampa/St. Petersburg and Chicago.

Resort tax collections for June, the most recent month available, were up 40 percent in Anna Maria, 25 percent in Bradenton Beach and 12 percent in Holmes Beach from June 2014, confirming what many Island residents and business owners believed to be the busiest June in memory.

ANNA MARIA – With a group of rental home owners in the audience, the City Commission continued work on modifying the vacation rental ordinance that will place numerous requirements on rental agents, owners and the city itself.

The group showed up ready to be heard, but Commission Chair Chuck Webb told them the commission does not take public comment during workshops. City Attorney Becky Vose presented the changes to the Commission.

The first change was shortening the definition of a vacation rental to, “any transient public lodging establishment that does not have on-site management.”

Vose said that would eliminate motels from being required to abide by the new ordinance.

The ordinance calls for suspending a rental home’s vacation rental license if the property has three unresolved or six total violations within a 12-month period. Commissioners lowered that number from 20 to six because they felt 20 was too lenient. Another change would have a special magistrate hear an appeal of a license suspension instead of the city commission.

Implementing this plan will take some time, and not everyone will get a license on the first of the year. The city will initiate cycles to process and distribute rental licenses. If a property owner submits the paperwork, he or she would be able to operate without a license until it is issued.

In response to a rumor that some vacation homeowners were planning to ignore the law, Vose inserted a rule saying they would have to wait until another cycle to apply for a license if they don’t apply for a license on the first one.

She also added a requirement that the owner of a property must apply for a modification to the license if the property is sold. The commissioners had her add 30 days for the new owner to apply for a new license.

Commissioner Dale Woodland said owners of properties that get too many violations might sell to other owners or limited liability corporations (LLCs) to avoid penalties and he wanted the law to require any unresolved problems to be cleared up before the license is modified to name the new owner.

The commission made it clear that violations of the old owner would transfer to the new owner.

Vose said there would be annual inspections for violations of the state’s fire and building codes. She also suggested owners and agents keep close tabs on their properties.

“We don’t want them to be absentee agents,”Webb said.

Rental agents who have 10 or more unresolved violations in the city would lose their ability to be rental agents for 24 months. Rental agencies that accumulate 20 unresolved violations in a 12-month period would lose the ability to serve as a rental agencies for two years

“This is for agents who don’t care,” said Commissioner Doug Copeland.

The modified ordinance no longer contains restrictions on pool use or requires additional sound proofing for pool pumps.

The next step was a public hearing by the Planning and Zoning Board on Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 4 p.m. Some of the rental owners who showed up at last Thursday’s meeting said they would likely be at that meeting to be heard.

ANNA MARIA – The new $4.163 million budget proposed by Mayor Dan Murphy during last week’s budget work session includes an additional $600,000 in anticipated revenues derived from vacation rental licensing fees.

Last year’s adopted total budget was $2.601 million and projected by Murphy and the city’s accountant to close on Sept. 30 at $3.498 million. The new budget takes effect Oct. 1.

When introducing the 2015-16 fiscal year budget, Murphy said, “This budget is based upon keeping the ad valorem rate the same. If we opted not to keep the ad valorem the same, we could in fact, reduce our taxes by around $115,000.”

Vacation rental fees

Murphy said the $600,000 in projected vacation rental licensing fees was derived from the idea that each of the city’s 600 vacation rental properties would be required to acquire a $1,000 annual license.

The new funds, if and when they are collected, would be used to create a much larger code enforcement department that would focus much of its efforts on policing the city’s vacation rental properties according to the city’s new vacation rental ordinance that is currently subject to two legal challenges.

“Code enforcement, as written, is a $600,000-plus operation, the second largest single line item on our budget. The biggest line item is the Sheriff’s Office,” Murphy said.

These first-year revenues would be used to cover costs associated with inspections, seven day a week code enforcement and the infrastructure, technological support, personnel, vehicles and equipment needed to start a what amounts to a new department
“I expect the biggest hit will be the first year,” Murphy said, noting that the licensing fees and associated expenses could change annually based on need.

When contacted later in the week, Island Real Estate broker and owner Larry Chatt offered his opinion on the proposed fees and expenditures.

“I don't think a $1,000 licensure fee is reasonable for vacation rental owners in the city of Anna Maria. The largest indication for me that the rental ordinance needs continued modifications is the cost to administer the rental program will exceed the annual budget for our police force to patrol Anna Maria city,” he said.

Other budget highlights

The new budget call for $1.943 million in reserve funds, up from the currently projected $1.795 million fiscal-year end figure that Murphy thinks may increase between now and the end of the current fiscal year.

Including the vacation rental license fees, the new budget projects $1.149 million in revenues generated by licenses and fees, and another $515,669 in intergovernmental revenues that include local communications services taxes, gas taxes, local option taxes and revenue sharing.

The new budget projects parking fine revenues will increase from $10,000 to $20,000 and code enforcement fines will increase from $5,000 to $10,000 due to greater enforcement efforts.

Miscellaneous revenue includes $84,254 in BP oil spill settlement money. The budget also lists $32,139 in county revenues that will be used to build trolley shelters.

The budget projects $84,403 in code enforcement salary expenditures, compared to a final projected figure of $45,678 for the current fiscal year. Last year’s budget called for $39,166 in code enforcement salaries.

Murphy’s new budget calls for $458,420 to be spend on regular salaries and wages for non-code enforcement personnel, and $102,300 on employee insurance contributions. The new budget does not provide for city employee pay increases.

Subject to a 7 percent increase levied by the county, contracted Sheriff’s Office services will climb from $641,408 to $685,626.

The new budget calls for $217,500 in attorney fees, compared to the $156,592 budgeted last year.

The project/maintenance budget calls for $891,910, down from the $957,311 budgeted last year.

The new budget includes $230,000 for stormwater utility maintenance and $260,793 for capital equipment and project expenditures.

The city’s total operating expenses are expected to climb from $1.437 million to $1.949 million.

The budget was well-received by the commission and the next budget work session will take place Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 6 p.m.

HOLMES BEACH – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has issued a consent order to Jose Vivero outlining action he must agree to in order to resolve the issue of illegal sea grape trimming in the 4300 block of Second Avenue.

In May, Vivero hired a tree service to trim the sea grape trees located along the beach access and the neighboring property across the street from his property without permission from the city or the neighboring property owner.

The DEP has been investigating the case and working with Vivero’s attorney, the State Attorney’s office and the city. On Aug. 7 the DEP issued the consent order that includes the following stipulations:

• Vivero must hire a certified arborist and submit a detailed management plan of the affected area to the DEP. The area shall be under the management of the arborist for a minimum of one year.

• Within 30 days of the order, Vivero shall obtain the services of a qualified lighting consultant and submit a proposed exterior lighting plan for his house to the DEP. Within 30 days of DEP approval, the plan shall be completed.

• Vivero shall not conduct any construction or excavation seaward of the CCCL (coastal construction control line) without obtaining a DEP permit or written notification from the DEP that the proposed activities appear to be exempt from DEP permitting requirements.

• Within seven days of DEP inspection to confirm the lighting meets approval, Vivero shall provide to the city up to $500 to install a sea turtle lighting educational sign in the public access at the site of the cutting.

• Within 30 days of the order, Vivero must pay a $1,000 penalty to the DEP.

• Vivero must pay $250 per day if he fails to comply with the provisions of the order.

Vivero must sign and return the consent order to DEP by Aug. 21.