To a roomful of applause, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan sat down before city commissioners for the first time ever.

He explained the intricacies of his jobs bill, which among other things would call for eliminating the 11% income tax on unemployment benefits and the temporary elimination of the capital-gains tax.

The city had requested federal funding for five projects: homeless prevention, Lido Key beach renourishment, police records system upgrade, the Robert L. Taylor after-school program and a downtown bus circulator.

Buchanan said he wasn’t sure the federal government would be able to fund all four, so he asked commissioners to provide him in the near future a ranking of which of those projects were priorities.

Other City Commission action:

•Commissioners approved more than $26,000 in neighborhood grants for 11 different neighborhood groups.

•Glenn Marzluf, general manager of the engineering department, briefed commissioners on the city’s complex staging plan during the construction of the Palm Avenue parking garage, Five Points roundabout, Palm Avenue and Main Street intersection improvements, Main Street waterline replacement and downtown landscape improvements — all of which will are scheduled to be complete before the end of the year.

Contact Robin Roy at rroy@yourobserver.com.

 

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