County Commission votes to end downtown Sarasota CRA

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

At a special hearing to formally adopt the fiscal year 2016 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 located in the City of Sarasota.”

The County Commission unanimously approved that resolution, ending the city’s hopes of extending the funding mechanism.

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

County Commissioner Paul Caragiulo said the CRA was successful in its mission to combat blighted conditions in the downtown area, highlighting the changes he’s seen since his parents first opened a restaurant on Palm Avenue in 1987.

“A lot of people thought my parents were out of their mind to sign a lease for a restaurant there,” Caragiulo said. “I think a large portion of the success was due to some critical projects that were initiated early on, such as Five Points Park and Bayfront Park.”

Still, he said he thought the mission of the downtown CRA had been largely accomplished and should come to an end. He’s open to the idea of a new CRA that targets remaining blighted segments of the city, but thinks that should be a separate, distinct endeavor.

“I think we need to cease one effort before we start another one, potentially,” Caragiulo said.

"I think we need to cease one effort before we start another one, potentially." — Paul Caragiulo

The board was split on its enthusiasm for the idea of a new CRA. Commissioner Christine Robinson said the county should remain wary of that proposition. She said there are blighted areas throughout the county, and has suggested other municipalities could come to the county to request a CRA if the city of Sarasota’s were extended or reestablished.

She also argued that the use of TIF money would require the county to raise taxes to maintain its levels of service, pointing to Manatee County as an example.

“We have to be very careful about ever proceeding with another CRA, because it will result in a tax increase,” Robinson said. “Ironically, we’re not increasing the millage, but we can look to our neighbors to the north to see what having a lot of CRAs will do to your millage.”

On Monday, the County Commission approved changes to its Community Reinvestment Program, originally established in 2006 but dormant since 2007. That program gives grants or loans to municipalities seeking money for projects “that preserve and strengthen existing communities,” per the new language added to the ordinance.

The county has agreed to invest $500,000 into that program to restart it, and Robinson said it was a capital funding mechanism that could serve as an alternative to the CRA.

The resolution ending the CRA cites a lack of consensus for an extension at an August 2014 County Commission meeting. Since that time, the city has been operating under the assumption that there was still hope for the continuation of the CRA.

"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." —Liz Alpert

This August, the city agreed to an action plan for rekindling a conversation regarding the CRA with the county. In September, Mayor Willie Shaw and Commissioner Shelli Freeland Eddie agreed to work as liaisons with city staff and the county as that conversation progressed.

Commissioner Liz Alpert said she was unaware of the proposed resolution ending the CRA before Tuesday’s vote, and that she was disappointed at the county’s decision to cease future discussions regarding an extension.

“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. “We had a committee who worked for almost a year looking into ways to make it feasible, and they certainly came up with statistics showing it created economic development.”