Sarasota News Leader

07/04/2014

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approximately $3 million and the final portion coming from the TDT fund. "Which would have left about $10 million in the [TDT account for county renourishment efforts]," Barbetta noted. The state money "might be in limbo," Botelho said. The South Siesta Renourishment Project "was shut out of the running" for state fund- ing this year, Patterson pointed out, because of a ranking system that gave more points to plans that involved the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Recently, she continued, she had heard that state officials' rethinking of that process could lead to the south Siesta project getting some money, though "my understand- ing was that it was substantially less [than the $7 million]." As the board members discussed both the upcoming south project and the suggestion that some of the county TDT funds be used to help the City of Sarasota add more sand to South Lido Beach, Patterson noted that the TDT renourishment account has been grow- ing at a rate of about $1.4 million a year, thanks to the rise in tourists' spending. "We've never had as much cash as we currently have [in that account]." Therefore, she said, the funds could be used to enable the county to bond out the expense of upcoming projects. In response to a request for clarification from Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson, staff and Patterson noted that separate renourish- ment accounts are set up for all the county municipalities that have shorelines. Robinson said the City of Venice is in the final stages of planning a project. % A graphic from the National Hurricane Center shows a selection of aboveground high-water marks estimated along Hurricane Sandy's path in the fall of 2012. Image from the National Hurricane Center Sarasota News Leader July 4, 2014 Page 24

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