UTC in Sarasota-Manatee would get special taxing powers under proposed bill

When a hurricane is threatening Manatee County with heavy rains that will likely lead to flooding, county officials often decide to lower the water levels in Lake Manatee. 

The lake at Nathan Benderson Park might function the same way in the future. But such an endeavor, such as building an operable valve system to lower lake elevations, requires a funding source. 

That source could be in the form of a new bill making its way through Tallahassee. Florida House Bill 4091 proposes that 1,514.6 acres spanning from Fruitville Road in Sarasota County north to University Park in Manatee County be established as an independent special taxing district known as the University Town Center Improvement District.

An analysis of the legislation for the Florida Senate, filed Jan. 26 by the House's intergovernmental affairs subcommittee, states the bill projects the District will spend $440,000 in its first fiscal year, primarily on engineering costs, and $2 million in its second fiscal year, primarily on infrastructure enhancements. The bill, as of Tuesday, didn't have a Senate sponsor.

Courtesy image

If the bill is passed, Todd Mathes, director of Real Estate Development at Benderson Development — the company behind UTC — says the district would provide a revenue source to maintain the area’s infrastructure and prevent future flooding. 

Nathan Benderson Park alone contains $50 million in public assets. The surrounding commercial assets are valued at over $1 billion. 

UTC is located in both Sarasota and Manatee counties. University Parkway is the dividing line. Over the past two years, commercial stakeholders in the UTC area have invested more than $10 million in stormwater, drainage and roadway improvements.

While there are others, such as Home Depot and Target, Benderson Development is the majority private stakeholder within the proposed district. As such, Mathes says the company has stepped in to take on the work up to this point.

While flooding causes more property damage on the southern Sarasota side, Mathes notes that much of that damage is due to a lack of maintenance on the northern Manatee County side because of the direction the water flows. "Sarasota County has its hands full elsewhere in this county," he says. "(UTC) is just a tiny, little corner." 

Mathes is confident the flooding issues can be solved, but Benderson wants one single entity focused on the issue, which a special district would provide.

By Florida statute, “special districts may be used by the private and public sectors, as authorized by state law, to manage, own, operate, construct and finance basic capital infrastructure, facilities and services.” 

The language in HB 4091 could change as it moves through the legislature. But as it’s written, the basic capital infrastructure includes the construction and maintenance of roads, sidewalks, ditches, ponds, pumping systems, irrigation systems and transportation systems. 

Under transportation systems, the bill states the district could fund and operate a trolley if the board voted to do so. However, Mathes says UTC already tested a trolley and it didn’t work. 

If passed as is, the bill would also give the special district the authority to build a water plant and sewer system. But Mathes says there are no plans to do either. The district won’t have that kind of money because it would take too long to accumulate. 

So why are these unnecessary “powers of the district” included in the bill?

Rep. Bill Conerly, R-Lakewood Ranch, who is sponsoring the legislation, equates the structure of the bill to the county’s comprehensive plan — a guide for everything you might want to do. Even if it’s not wanted today or in the future, it’s written to provide the “broadest presumption of uses.”

The Ramba Consulting Group LLC, a lobbying firm based out of Tallahassee, drafted the bill. A civil engineer, Conerly was previously chairman of the Manatee County Planning Commision and a project manager with Kimley-Horn.

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

While both Conerly and Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse equate the proposed district to Lakewood Ranch's stewardship district that funded most of its roads, Commissioner Bob McCann calls the proposed UTC district an attack on home rule. 

With three Manatee County commission seats up for grabs in this year’s elections, McCann says Benderson Development is likely going to the state to preempt the commission in case the 2026 election doesn’t go its way. 

“Why do they need a special district?” McCann questioned. “If they wanted to, the bill could say that the county maintains control of this or that, but they don’t want that. They want to be able to say, ‘You can’t overrule me because this is now my kingdom.’”

Mathes reads the bill’s language as a means to open up opportunities versus handing over absolute power. 

If approved, immediate plans for the district include improvements to storm inlets along University Parkway and clearing out the ditch system on the south side of University Parkway. 

Ditch maintenance on both sides of University Parkway would be taken over by the district. 

However, in the case of Nathan Benderson Park, an operable valve system to control lake elevations would require permits and an approval from Sarasota County.

“The district has no right to do anything on anyone’s property without their participation and consent, “ Mathes says. 

With that said, Mathes can’t see a reason why Sarasota County wouldn’t agree to an improvement that would protect its asset — especially without having to fund it. 

Residents wouldn’t be funding the improvements either. The assessment would only be imposed on commercial property owners. Under the bill’s current language, the assessment would be capped at 3 mills ($3 on every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value).

According to the Sarasota County Property Appraiser records, The Mall at University Town Center has an assessed value of $192.74 million. The cap amount of 3 mills would amount to $578,230, but the district could choose to set the millage lower. 

Benderson will be taxing itself. But McCann argues that the assessment will be passed onto the tenants leasing from Benderson.

Conerly says Benderson is not likely to lose tenants and erode its business by passing the assessment on dollar for dollar. He also notes Benderson is the stakeholder with the most to lose if UTC becomes an independent district.

Part of the district’s authority is the ability to borrow money through bonds. 

“The land secures the debt,” Conerly says. “It’s like mortgaging your property to get money to do improvements.”

A version of this article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.