Liz Arnold wants Manatee County to stop approving new development until roads and drainage catch up with the roughly 65,000 homes already approved but not yet built.

Arnold, 74, is the Republican nominee for Manatee County Commission District 1, the seat left vacant after Commissioner Carol Ann Felts died earlier this year. She faces Democrat Sari Lindroos-Valimaki and write-in candidate Jack May in the Nov. 3 general election. District 1 covers eastern Manatee County, including the growth corridor nearest Lakewood Ranch.

In a candidate Q&A published Oct. 15 by Your Observer, Arnold laid out a platform she sums up in three words: "infrastructure first."

"For too long, development has gotten ahead of our roads," Arnold said in the Q&A. She said she would review the county's Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and Infrastructure Sales Tax projects to determine whether funding can be shifted toward the most critical road projects and whether construction can be accelerated.

$1.1 billion in reserves

Arnold called for a full accounting of Manatee County's $1.1 billion in reserves before the county asks taxpayers for more money. The county's fiscal year 2027 budget, approved in late September, breaks those reserves into $767.4 million in cash-balance reserves, $339.8 million for capital projects, $21.1 million for contingency and $15.6 million for salaries, according to The Bradenton Times.

Arnold acknowledged the county needs healthy reserves for hurricanes, cash flow and its credit rating. But she questioned how much is truly necessary.

"Taxpayer money should have a purpose," she said.

Commission Chair Tal Siddique has also pushed to revisit the reserve policy, which has not been updated since 2010, according to Your Observer's Sept. 30 report. Siddique said he expects about $10 million could be freed up, enough to close the gap between the county's $12 million road-resurfacing budget and the $16 million he says is needed. A public work session on reserves is scheduled for Dec. 9.

$14.2 million stuck in escrow

Arnold also pointed to $14.2 million in impact-fee revenue sitting in escrow while a developer lawsuit plays out. Manatee County commissioners unanimously raised impact fees in June 2025, declaring extraordinary circumstances so new development would pay more toward roads, parks and public safety. A nonprofit called the Freedom Housing Alliance, whose directors include developers Carlos Beruff, Jon Mast and Wilhelm "Willy" Nunn, sued under Senate Bill 180 (SB 180), the state law that bars local governments from passing regulations deemed "more restrictive or burdensome" after hurricanes, as first reported by the Bradenton Herald.

A circuit judge dismissed five of six counts in the lawsuit but allowed the unfunded-mandate claim to proceed, according to Your Observer. The litigation remains unresolved. SB 180 is set to sunset Oct. 1, 2027, if no new hurricane triggers an extension.

65,000 approved units, 3,000 acres of wetlands gone

Arnold said roughly 65,000 residential units have been approved in Manatee County but had not begun construction as of the county's last count. She cited data presented at a Board of County Commissioners meeting showing more than 3,000 acres of wetlands were lost over roughly the last decade.

She said she does not want to stop growth but believes the county must evaluate what its infrastructure and natural resources can handle before adding more to the pipeline. She also called for protecting agricultural land, saying farms and ranches are businesses that contribute to the local economy.

Arnold, a Parrish resident and former Florida Power Corporation employee, won the August Republican primary with 27.96% of the vote, topping a six-candidate field of 12,162 voters, according to MySuncoast.

Early voting runs Oct. 19 through Nov. 1.