EDC contract with Sarasota County 'due' for an extension

During the years-long protracted debate over whether Sarasota County should be levying a business tax to help fund the work of the county’s Economic Development Corporation, a lot of four-letter words were likely uttered under people's breath.

Since the commission approved canceling the business tax and replacing the potential lost revenue with a 50-cent match on each private dollar raised by the EDC, a different four-letter word has raised concerns about the contract between the parties going forward — dues.

At its June 3 meeting, the County Commission heard from Director of Community and Intergovernmental Relations of Government Rob Lewis of a unique request. Lewis is requesting to extend the current agreement for economic development services with the EDC for a period not to exceed 120 days in order to clear up the language in the ongoing writing of the contract for fiscal year 2026.

The commission unanimously approved the extension.

The current agreement is set to expire at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. The extension won’t impact the EDC’s or the county’s fiscal 2026 budget, as the organization is submitting a flat budget with no changes from the current year’s spending plan of $1.82 million.

The use of the word “dues” in the pact is problematic because the EDC doesn’t collect dues in the traditional sense. Rather, it solicits private investment from companies in varying amounts with clear definition in order for the matching funds to be released. Although cumbersome, it has worked thus far, but all parties wish to clear away any potential contractual stumbling blocks.

“The word ‘dues’ has been the most problematic, as I understand it, with the EDC leadership. Their finance structure, their dues structure, is different than what we might think of as a chamber of commerce dues structure,” said Vice Chair Ron Cutsinger, who is also the commission’s representative on the EDC Board of Directors. “There’s a lot of different levels of investment that can happen that goes toward the benefit of the EDC and their work for us, but the word dues has been a little bit of a challenge.”

Lewis blamed the snafu on the brief time staff had between the commission’s approval of the contract structure on June 4, 2024, and its July due date to be included in the current fiscal year’s budget ordinance. 

The EDC’s current fiscal year goal for private investment is $575,000, which, if reached, will generate $287,500 in matching county dollars. In its preliminary budget for the current fiscal year, the EDC budget included $472,421 in county business tax revenue, which it lost with the elimination of the tax, and $390,000 in private investment. Reaching the increased investment goal combined with the county match will make the organization whole for the current fiscal year.

That’s not enough to satisfy Cutsinger, who was the lone dissenting vote in last year’s elimination of the business tax.

Before the vote, Cutsinger told EDC executives in the audience, “Go out and raise as much as you can. Make us match $500,000.”