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Sarasota News Leader December 27, 2013 Page 36 mission bodes poorly for the final outcome of a 10-person committee — the Downtown Sarasota CRA Extension Study Committee their flight. — to come back in January with recomTHE STAKES mendations on whether the CRA should be The Community Redevelopment Agency extended and, if so, how it should operate in (CRA) is a financial investment scheme. It the future. moves property tax revenue produced by a defined area out of city and county coffers into the CRA's account. In 1986, the City and County commissions agreed to freeze their property tax revenue level in a specific section of downtown Sarasota. For 30 years, the revenue that came in above the 1986 base level accrued to the Downtown Sarasota CRA to fight "slum and blight" in that same section of the city. When the ad hoc committee "opened up" the CRA for examination, a few worms crawled out. Instead of using CRA money for projects to fight "slum and blight," the city was using an ever-increasing fraction of the revenue to augment city finances, paying police salaries, for example. The use of CRA funds for operations instead of investment rankled several committee members. After a couple of months of meetings, The deal expires in 2016. Earlier this, year then-Chairman David Merrill was asked to the City and County commissions appointed resign by one county commissioner because Pineapple Avenue businesses are included within the Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency boundaries. Photo by Norman Schimmel