City, county prepare to hash out downtown CRA conflict

soon help answer the question of when, exactly, the downtown Sarasota Community Redevelopment Area expired.

At its Jan. 17 meeting, the city was prepared to formally begin a state-sanctioned mediation process with Sarasota County regarding the final payment of CRA funds. 

The redevelopment agency was funded via city and county property taxes within the district’s boundaries.

In October 2015, the county voted to end the CRA after 30 years despite the city’s desire to preserve the funding mechanism. The CRA was set to expire in 2016 — but the two governments disagree on what, exactly, that timeline means.

The county argues the CRA expired at the end of fiscal year 2016, or Sept. 30. The city contends the CRA expired at the end of the 2016 tax year, or Dec. 31.

 Under the city’s interpretation, the county owes one last year of CRA payments into the agency’s trust fund. That total would top $4.5 million.

Because the county has turned away the city’s attempts to claim that money, the city plans to enter the mediation process — a potential precursor to a lawsuit. 

But on Jan. 17, the city deferred any decision at the request of City Attorney Robert Fournier.

Fournier asked the city to make one final attempt to informally discuss the CRA dispute with the county before entering the mediation process, which would take place in the public in accordance with the state Sunshine Law.

“I don’t want to be put in the position of being perceived as ratcheting things up unnecessarily,” Fournier said.

City Manager Tom Barwin agreed to reach out to county administration regarding the CRA funds. County staff said their position on the issue hasn’t changed.

“The Downtown CRA sunsets in fiscal year 2016, which ended Sept. 30,” Assistant County Administrator Mark Cunningham said in a statement. 

“This has been stated in several previous resolutions approved by both the county and the city of Sarasota and in the CRA Extension Committee final report. It’s also been mentioned repeatedly at public, televised budget workshops and at a joint meeting between the city and county.”

City Manager Tom Barwin said he’s in the process of reaching out to county officials to revisit the topic. If the county rejects the city’s informal overtures, the City Commission will vote on beginning the state mediation process at its Feb. 7 meeting.