To better understand how developers in the region are leveraging a loophole in Florida’s Greenbelt law, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of business registries, property records, real estate deeds, and tax bills to assess the impact on local government. Below, we outline the methodology behind our findings.

Using officer names and business addresses listed on the Florida Department of State’s SunBiz.org, we identified more than 1,000 limited liability companies tied to five of the region’s most well-known developers: Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc., Neal Communities, Medallion Home, Mattamy Homes, and Benderson Development Co. We used that list to first see all of the different types of properties owned by these developers across Sarasota and Manatee counties.

We then identified their Greenbelt sites by looking at each county’s agricultural use codes. Benderson did not own any land coded as agriculture in 2024, so the company dropped out of our analysis at that point. For the four other companies, we calculated the total agricultural and non-agricultural acreage owned by each, the total just value of their Greenbelt land, and the total taxable value of their Greenbelt land. We also reviewed each property’s 2024 ad valorem tax bills, looked up every property’s unique and specific millage rate, and calculated tax bills for each company. One mill is one dollar per $1,000 of assessed value.

To determine the amount each county could have received in ad volarem taxes from these properties had they not been Greenbelt, we applied the local millage rates to the just value of each property. The just value is considered by the property appraiser to be the real estate’s market value. We subtracted the total ad valorem taxes these developers paid on their Greenbelt properties from the total of what the taxes could have been without Greenbelt. That gave us the total taxes lost as a result of Greenbelt discounts. 

Manatee County Property Appraiser Charles Hackney told Suncoast Searchlight that our method matched how a property’s taxes would be assessed should it fall off Greenbelt.

Kara Newhouse is an investigative data reporter for Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org.