Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/215277
Sarasota News Leader November 22, 2013 commissioners and three citizens was approved 5-3. With that vote, the role of the City Commission in CRA governance went from total (5-0) to 2-5. "Why does the city have to surrender everything to the county? Who is so sick of the city that they want us to surrender everything?" asked Atkins. "If I was a city commissioner, I wouldn't even consider this mess." Page 48 Member Casey Coburn moved that "the city and county should undertake to modify the boundaries of the CRA or create multiple CRA districts for areas of the city and possibly the county." DuBose abstained, asking if this motion ran afoul of County Commission sensitivities about the committee's earlier recommendation of the creation of new CRAs. The previous chairman, David Merrill, was asked to resign when he proposed new CRAs. "Are we threatening losing the possibility of getting this thing extended by going somewhere we were told not to go?" asked DuBose. It is possible Atkins' outburst resulted in the modified, subsequent vote to allow the city to appoint all three citizen members of the governing board. By the slimmest margin of the evening, that suggestion passed 4-3. Some retroactive gloss was laid on the motion, Committee member Bill Russell was attend- and the committee moved on. The clock was ing by telephone, but the line was dead for ticking to adjournment. this and later votes. Atkins then made the critical motion: "There should be a reset of the CRA for another 30 DOWNHILL FROM THERE years." Noting his colleagues were ready to It was as if the committee had been toiling vote and move on, committee member Chris uphill for 90 minutes. Only one of seven dif- Gallagher said, "I don't want to blow past this ferent categories needing decisions had been moment without a commentary from us. The tackled. But the remainder of the meeting simple logic is, if the tool is working, why not use it for an extended time?" was a sleigh ride downhill. The next category was "Boundaries." During previous meetings, a variety of other areas were proposed where the CRA/TIF scheme could apply — the Rosemary District, the North Tamiami Trail, the Cultural District and the gap between downtown and Newtown. By 6-0 vote, with one abstention, the committee members said this issue required significantly more analysis. Any new CRA area requires a study to determine the degree of "slum and blight." Should a new area deserve its own CRA or join an existing one? The 30-year extension passed unanimously, 7-0. Member Michael Beaumier then moved to reset the Newtown CRA's base year for tax calculations to 2013, even though the City Commission already has this initiative in motion. But his motion also called for no reset of the downtown's 1986 base year, maintaining the TIF "money-machine" that Chairman Dorr says should produce $250,000,000 in the next 30 years, all to be spent downtown. Beaumier's motion passed unanimously as well. %