Manatee County consolidates

BRADENTON — Manatee County government will be consolidating some of its operations, taking four separate departments and combining them into just two entities. The moves are motivated by the need for fiscal austerity, as officials say property tax revenues could fall by as much as $14 million in the upcoming fiscal year.

First, what were once the Planning Department and the Building Department will now be combined to form the Building and Development Services Department. John Barnott will lead the new unit.

The new department will also take over a pair of tasks from other divisions: it will absorb the Transportation Systems Management division from Public Works, and the Code Enforcement division from Neighborhood Services.

In a separate move, the Agriculture and Resource Conservation Department will be, in a way, “demoted” to division status, and moved under the umbrella of the Community Services Department, led by Brenda Rogers.

County Administrator Ed Hunzeker would not provide the Business Review with an estimate for the cost savings that would result from these moves, but did say that they would not be the last of their kind. “We continue to downsize the government every opportunity we get,” Hunzeker told the Business Review. “Everything is on the table. Nothing is a sacred cow.”

“This is a step in the process of organizing the government before we reduce the government,” Hunzeker says. “Every day, every job, we are looking to figure out how we could do more with less.”