City, county set for CRA showdown

The city and county are so divided over a contested payment of tax funds, the two sides couldn’t even agree on the best mediation process to resolve the dispute.

Monday marked another chapter in a years-long saga surrounding the downtown Community Redevelopment Area. The City Commission voted unanimously to request a state-sanctioned mediation process with the county in an effort to resolve the latest issue dividing the two governments.

The downtown CRA, a funding mechanism that invests city and county property tax funds within the district’s boundaries, expired in 2016. The city believes the county was supposed to make one final contribution to the CRA in December 2016 — a $4.8 million payment. The county believes the CRA expired in September 2016, at the end of the fiscal year.

After the county rejected informal overtures from the city to resolve the dispute, the city is asking the county to enter a formal mediation process, as outlined in the Florida Governmental Conflict Resolution Act. That process involves three public meetings: one between city and county staff, one between the two commissions and a meeting between the two bodies with a mediator present.

The county asked the city to participate in an alternative dispute resolution process, one that would not require public meetings. The county proposed two meetings between city and county administration. In exchange for the county agreeing to these meetings, the city would waive its right to ask the county to participate in the formal conflict resolution process.

City commissioners said informal conversations with the county have yielded no progress to date. The board unanimously rejected the county’s proposal.

“If there was an interest in having pre-suit discussions that were meaningful, we hope they’d have already happened by now,” Vice Mayor Shelli Freeland Eddie said.

The city and county have been at odds over the CRA before this point of contention. The city wanted to extend the taxing district. The county didn’t, and in October 2015, the County Commission ended it unilaterally in a vote the city was not aware of beforehand.

Assistant County Administrator Mark Cunningham issued a statement via a spokesman on the city’s decision. The statement said the county is waiting for the city to take its “official next step.”

“Subsequently, Sarasota County will review any documents received and respond in an appropriate and timely manner,” the statement said.

County officials did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

As Eddie alluded to, the mediation request is a prelude to a possible lawsuit if the two sides cannot come to an agreement. Even though the city has not made any progress with the county, City Manager Tom Barwin is confident in the strength of the city’s claim to one final payment.

“When I asked the county to produce their legal justification for (not making another payment), that was not produced,” Barwin said. “So therefore, I’m concluding there isn’t really anything in writing that we can study to back down from our interpretation.”