City discusses budget cuts

Sarasota City commissioner Shannon Snyder urged his fellow commissioners at the first budget workshop of the season Tuesday to realize “bold decisions need to be made “because “the city is already starting to unravel.”

Those bold decisions, Snyder said, must include a future discussion on whether or not to keep the Sarasota Police Department any longer and making drastic police pension changes. Snyder proposed the elimination of the city’s police force could free up $7 million at a time when the city is facing a $4 million to $5 million deficit fiscal year 2012-13 alone, in large part to rising personnel and pension costs.

For more information on the budget workshop, pick up a copy of Thursday’s March 1 Sarasota Observer.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].