City blindsided by county’s move to end CRA

After years of deliberation, debate and conflict, there was little fanfare Sept. 22, when the Sarasota County Commission agreed to end the Sarasota Downtown Community Redevelopment Area in 2016.

At a special hearing to adopt the 2015-16 millage rate and budget, no members of the public spoke on the third agenda item, billed as a resolution relating to the Downtown Community Redevelopment Area in the city of Sarasota.

The County Commission unanimously approved that resolution, which ended the city’s hopes of extending the CRA.

Established in 1986, the CRA was designed to combat slum and blight downtown. The CRA used tax-increment financing (TIF), investing city and county property tax revenue from within the area into capital projects and other targeted spending.

City Commissioner Liz Alpert was one of many city officials who said they were unaware that a vote on the CRA was even scheduled.

“I thought it was really very unfortunate, because we were all moving ahead to try to create some dialog about what we could do to work it out to make it palatable to the county to continue,” Alpert said.

Caught by surprise

In August, the city began a renewed effort to re-engage the county in talks regarding the extension of the downtown CRA.

Although the management of the CRA had drawn criticism from several county officials, the city was intent on preserving what it saw as a crucial funding mechanism for improvements in the heart of the city.

The commission reached out to members of the Downtown CRA Extension Study Committee, a group jointly appointed by the city and county that endorsed the extension of the CRA. At the behest of that group, a majority of the City Commission was willing to adjust the management structure of the CRA so the city wasn’t the sole overseeing authority.

The City Commission approved an action plan for discussing the CRA with the county. Over the next year, they proposed, two members of each commission would work with staff to discuss the parameters of an extension.

On Sept. 8, the commission selected Mayor Willie Shaw and Commissioner Shelli Eddie to serve as the city’s representatives.

Two weeks later, the County Commission voted to let the downtown CRA expire.

Deputy City Manager Marlon Brown confirmed city officials didn’t know the vote was coming.

"We always thought the county would work with us on coming up with something." — Marlon Brown

In an email to City Manager Tom Barwin four days before the county’s decision, County Manager Tom Harmer did mention the vote. The email, which bore the subject line “Final Public Hearing,” mostly pertained to a separate discussion topic at the meeting, but Harmer mentioned other agenda items as well.

“It also includes the resolutions setting the final millage rates, the notice of final appropriate (sic) for the downtown redevelopment district and the adoption of the 5 year CIP,” Harmer wrote.

Brown said that email did little to indicate the significance of the vote. 

“We always thought the county would work with us on coming up with something,” Brown said. “The committee members tried to tailor a lot of their recommendations in that final report based on what they heard from county officials.”

Although the timing of county’s move may have surprised the city, the decision itself wasn’t shocking. Commissioner Susan Chapman said she viewed the recent efforts to extend the CRA as a waste of time, because she believed the county couldn’t be swayed.

“It wasn’t unexpected,” Chapman said. “I didn’t 100% know for sure when it would come up, but it’s been telegraphed — I would say for months, if not years.”

Plan B

For county officials, there was a growing concern that CRA funds were being misspent and the boundaries no longer matched the mission of the program.

County Commissioner Paul Caragiulo praised the effectiveness of the downtown CRA, but said he thought its goals had been largely accomplished. He’s open to a new CRA that targets lingering blight but thinks that should be a separate endeavor.

Commissioner Christine Robinson said the county should remain wary of creting a new CRA. She said there are blighted areas throughout the county, and other municipalities could come to the county to request a CRA if the county extended the city’s CRA.

On Sept. 21, the County Commission approved changes to its Community Reinvestment Program, dormant since 2007. That program gives grants or loans to municipalities for projects “that preserve and strengthen existing communities.”

The county has put $500,000 into that program, and Robinson said it could serve as a CRA alternative.

Norm Golub, the city’s Downtown Economic Development coordinator, said he doesn’t expect private investment to slow in the downtown core. Still, he said the CRA was particularly helpful for funding capital improvements.

“We have sidewalk needs, we have street improvement needs, we have infrastructure needs that will not stop simply because the funds are no longer there,” Gollub said.

At 5 p.m. Thursday, the City Commission will hold a special meeting to discuss life “beyond the CRA.” The board will also discuss how this move affects the city-county relationship in advance of a Nov. 6 joint meeting between the two commissions, which will focus on homelessness issues.