Central energy plant surges ahead in budget talks

Sarasota County commissioners have been adamant about cutting off efforts at downtown expansion due to tension with the city, but a critical infrastructure need could force them to change that decision.

The county’s central energy plant facility, located in tight quarters at East Avenue and Main Street, can’t expand in its current home and is nearing the end of its life span, said Ed Gable, division manager of the facilities and fleet services for the county. Although the plant can probably last two to three more years, Gable said, the county needs to start planning and designing the new facility before any major breakdowns cause a catastrophic failure.

“It’s at the end of its life — it will continue to become less efficient and start to wear out,” he said.

That’s why county staff included the $13.8 million central energy plant facility in a proposed referendum, bringing the total loan amount of the proposed general obligation bond to $109 million. Commissioners, however, delayed an official decision about the referendum at Friday’s workshop until they could receive more information about other projects that could possibly be included.

“It takes time to get (the plant) up and running. We’re trying to start as far ahead as we can,” Gable said. “It’s a big investment.”

The facility powers almost all of the county’s downtown service buildings on Ringling Boulevard, east of U.S. 301. 

Built over four years from 1994 to 1998, the plant provides all the chilled water for the county’s air-conditioning units for that area, about 1 million square feet of building space, said Gable. 

“It’s not just human comfort,” Gable said. “It keeps buildings more dry and clean, and maintains indoor air quality.”

The county had already planned for a new facility to allow it to expand further into the downtown area. The facility was supposed to be moved into an expansion of the county’s Ringling Boulevard parking garage, which would keep it near the county’s downtown buildings and also allow the county to plug its health services building into the circuit.

But after a February budget workshop, county commissioners directed staff to halt any further expansion to services downtown. The direction came after county commissioners criticized the city for its handling of the vacant site of the former police station on Ringling Boulevard. The county insists the city agreed to transfer the site to the county, but city officials say they want a better understanding of how the county would use the property.

Instead, county commissioners directed staff to focus on the $95 million public safety campus, located near the intersection of Bahia Vista and Cattlemen Road at the February workshop. 

County Administrator Tom Harmer and county staff presented the board with a possible voter referendum to pay for the large-scale county expansion project at Friday’s workshop. 

Staff presented a basic timeline, which stated the supervisor of elections had to be notified up to 120 days in advance before the referendum could be posted on a ballot, and if it were successful, the county would have 90 days to issue the bonds. 

“These numbers scare you,” said Commissioner Charles Hines. “They aren’t wish lists. These are things that have been put off. It’s the hardest thing of the commission. The energy plant—it’s not a nice new park, but we’ve got to have it.”

However, all the commissioners agreed they would want to put the referendum on a regular ballot rather than hold a special election. 

Harmer agreed to develop a bigger list of projects that could be included in the referendum and bring back the list for a decision in the May budget workshop. 

“As soon as we can, we need to communicate this to the public. People have no clue about the central energy plant,” Chairwoman Carolyn Mason said. “We need to be starting now (on education) if we want a referendum.”