Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/130753
BETTER ROADS AND BRIDGES (From left) Chief Financial Planning Officer Steve Botelho and County Administrator Randall Reid listen as Capital Projects Director Isaac Brownman explains priorities on the Capital Improvements Program list. Photo by Rachel Hackney THE COUNTY COMMISSION SPLITS ON VOTES TO ADD MORE FUNDING TO ROAD RESURFACING AND BRIDGE REPAIRS OVER THE NEXT FIVE FISCAL YEARS By Rachel Brown Hackney Editor More money will be going to road resurfacing and bridge repairs over the next five years, thanks to two split votes of the Sarasota County Commission during its May 14 budget workshop. Since the board's last budget workshop, on April 30, staff had reprioritized projects in the county's Capital Improvements Program (CIP) for Fiscal Years 2014-2018. The work left the commissioners with about $14.1 million in surtax — sales tax — revenue to allocate to unfunded initiatives. With Commissioners Joe Barbetta and Vice Chairman Charles If you've ever gone to a city that Hines in the minority, hasn't kept up with its road repaving, the the board approved message is loud and clear: This allocating an extra community is not doing well. $10 million to road repaving and about Nora Patterson Commissioner $4.1 million to the Sarasota County bridge work. During the staff presentation on May 14, Commissioner Christine Robinson questioned James K. Harriott Jr., the county's chief engineer, about comments he had