STEVE REID
Editor & Publisher
sreid@lbknews.com
Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton embedded a memo to Sarasota County Administrator Jonathan Lewis with some major news: The Town has raised enough money to build the desired enhancements to the future Longboat Library project.
Tipton said, “The town has fulfilled its commitment to provide funding for the additional community spaces that are requested as part of the Longboat Key Library build, and respectfully request that the County Commission approve the project and begin final design as well as associated land-use processes.”
Tipton told Longboat Key News on Friday that it had pledges totaling $2.8 million toward the necessary goal of $3.5 million for the Longboat enhancements. But, Tipton said the Town will guarantee the pledges, which can be paid over time, as well as the remainder of the shortfall which is about $700,000.
Tipton said he is confident that he and the fundraising team will reach the full amount by June 4, which is when the county will formally discuss and likely vote on the project.
It was five years ago when Sarasota County was told by the Longboat Key Town Commission that it desired permanent public library services on the island.
Over the next three years, the Longboat and Sarasota commissions developed principles of an agreement that includes a county built and run library on Town-owned land, part of the Town Center Green Park, which is a 4.81 acre parcel that the Town has spent $5.6 million purchasing and developing.
Sarasota County has budgeted about $11.5 million for the main library, and Longboat is responsible for $3.5 million to build out what the Commission has called community-desired improvements and gathering spaces.
Tipton says the main Longboat Key amenity is the community hall space, which will consist of both an inside meeting space as well as an outside terrace to tie the library into the Town Center Green.
In his memo to the County, Tipton said the environment for fundraising in the fall of 2024 was extremely difficult due to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which caused more than $225 million in damage to the Longboat Key community.
“Essentially four months of fundraising time were lost as the Town and our residents were rightly focused on storm recovery. That was followed by a drop in stock markets and an economic uncertainty that further limited what people would consider as a donation. Lastly, with reductions in federal and state spending, many of the island’s philanthropist are being inundated by organizations with requests to make up funding shortfalls,” said Tipton.
And while the town has not raised the full $3.5 million needed, Tipton said it is imperative that the county move forward in order to design the project and get true bids. Tipton said the county should vote on the issue on June 4.
Tipton is asking the county to not only move forward with the enhanced library, but also loosen its requirements for the naming rights.
According to Tipton, the Town has one donor who has pledged $1 million, one donor who has pledged $500,000, one who has pledged $350,000, two who have pledged $250,000, four who have pledged $100,000 and two have pledged $50,000.
Tipton said that given the economic reality and the challenges of fundraising, he wants the county to relax it’s requirement that 25% of the total cost of the project be donated in order to earn the naming rights. That means someone would have to give a $3.5 million gift to have their name on the entire library, which will cost about $14 million.
Tipton said that the person offering the $1 million pledge for the additional Longboat add-ons is asking for the naming of the entire library. It would take an approval by the Sarasota County Commission to make that exception happen.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of Tipton’s memo is that the Town is guaranteeing the pledges, which he says the County will require in order to view the project as fully-funded.
If the county approves the plan with the additions on June 4 as well as the exception to the naming rights policy, the library could break ground as soon as June 1, 2026.
