City, county clash on level of service

When Sarasota City Manger Tom Barwin sent a letter to Sarasota County officials requesting nearly $1 million for the Robert L. Taylor Community Complex next year, he believed it was relatively uncontroversial.

At best, the county would agree to the request. At worst, he thought, it would be an opening salvo in what would become an ongoing dialogue regarding appropriate county support for a city facility.

He was wrong. 

On June 21, the County Commission unanimously denied the funding request, which represented 60% of the budgeted operating expenses at the north Sarasota recreational facility. County commissioners admonished the city for its approach — which County Commissioner Paul Caragiulo suggested was the purpose of the proposal all along.

“To approach this issue as if they were issuing an invoice to the county for 60% of their operating costs was not a legitimate way to seek assistance,” Caragiulo said. “It was a way to produce an angry response, which it did.”

In April, a similar process played out: Barwin sent a letter to the county asserting the city was owed another year of county property tax revenue from the downtown Community Redevelopment Area  — more than $4 million. The county denied the request, and both governments expressed frustration.

Taken together, both incidents speak to a bigger issue in the city-county relationship. As the city aims to elevate service levels, it’s finding it more difficult to secure county funding than it was pre-recession.

So what, exactly, is the appropriate level of county contribution to city operations?

Hierarchy of needs

For city officials, this big-picture question has become an increasingly pressing issue.

Of city property tax revenue, 24% goes to Sarasota County; 21% goes to the city of Sarasota. 

“Sometimes, it seems like there’s a disconnect in terms of the county commissioners realizing they also represent the city residents,” Barwin said. “Sometimes, I think our city residents forget they’re also represented by the county commissioners.”

In 2011, the city and county brokered a new interlocal agreement that withdrew $550,000 in county funding for nonregional city park facilities.

Coming out of the recession, Vice Mayor Shelli Freeland Eddie joined city staff in questioning whether that agreement should be revisited. City data shows more than half of Robert L. Taylor center users are unincorporated Sarasota County residents. 

“City residents pay city and county taxes, and that’s part of the frustration of city residents,” Eddie said. “There’s this perception — ‘My tax dollars don’t go as far as I think they should.’”

“There’s this perception — ‘My tax dollars don’t go as far as I think they should.’” — Shelli Freeland Eddie

City leaders and residents have also suggested that the county’s priorities have shifted to high-profile projects such as Nathan Benderson Park and infrastructure in growing areas of the unincorporated county. 

“Right now, it’s perceived that the county isn’t in sync with its cities,” Barwin said. 

Countywide considerations

To county officials, this isn’t necessarily a question of a larger narrative. It’s two isolated funding requests, both of which were turned away for legitimate reasons.

In 2011, the county agreed to contribute $320,000 annually toward the Robert L. Taylor center, with no commitment to funding beyond that timeline. Even county commissioners supportive of the complex said it was inappropriate for the city to assume the county would continue to pay — especially considering the facility’s rising operational costs, approved without county consideration.

“What bothered me is there was no effort whatsoever in the past five years to get on a self-sustaining track for this facility,” County Commissioner Christine Robinson said. “The maintenance costs have increased dramatically.”

County commissioners did speak to two larger issues. One was the concern that any funding granted to the city of Sarasota would create a precedent for the other cities within the county.

Robinson pointed to two North Port facilities similar to the Robert L. Taylor center that also do not receive any county funding. Several commissioners said that extending the downtown Sarasota CRA could lead to other cities requesting their own CRAs, straining the county’s operating ability.

“We work with four cities in the county,” County Administrator Tom Harmer said. “How we interact with all four of them is important — and we have to think about how we interact with one city may impact the other areas.”

The second issue is that these disputes, right now, seem to be specific to the city of Sarasota. Caragiulo was critical of the city’s approach, which relies heavily on Barwin to guide policy. 

Still, both Robinson and Harmer suggested the dynamics of city-county government are somewhat cyclical, with high-profile tensions eventually giving way to relative stability.

“We have to think about how we interact with one city may impact the other areas.” — Tom Harmer

Harmer pointed to a dispute with North Port over management of Warm Mineral Springs, which was settled in 2014. Today, both Harmer and North Port City Manager Jonathan Lewis characterize their working relationship as positive.

“That normal stress that occurs between a city and county in the state of Florida — it just pops up from time to time when there’s a policy issue we don’t all agree on or a funding issue that’s difficult to solve,” Harmer said.

Forging ahead

For now, the tension may boil down to the simple fact that two elected bodies, required to collaborate, have different priorities. Failing other solutions, City Commissioner Susan Chapman believes residents will ultimately address those tensions themselves.

“I think eventually the public will answer it through elections, one way or another,” Chapman said. 

Leaders on both sides are quick to say that, beyond the high-profile skirmishes, city and county staff collaborate on issues such as stormwater management, 911 dispatch and firefighter operations. 

“We ought to focus more on the services we offer every day,” Harmer said. “We probably don’t highlight those enough.”

Still, there’s also no shortage of shots being lobbed from one side to the other.

“They seem to care about the news story, feeding the fire for this animosity.” — Paul Caragiulo

“They seem not to care about the end result,” Caragiulo said of the city. “They seem to care about the news story, feeding the fire for this animosity.”

Barwin pledged to keep working toward a more productive dialogue between the two governments about support for city services. However, he remains critical of the county’s commitment to programs within the city of Sarasota.

“It has been surprising and disappointing that the city appears to have no advocates at the county table,” Barwin said. “When you can’t even get one vote to fund the Robert L. Taylor Community Center — that’s like Chevrolet and apple pie. It’s a head-shaker to me.”