Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/100825
Sarasota News Leader December 28, 2012 Page 23 APRIL 16 APRIL 19 With a Sarasota citizens group having won a Sunshine Law case in February that involved the Sarasota Civil Service Board, the Sarasota City Commission agrees unanimously to pay the group���s attorney the $90,173.18 in legal fees she was seeking for her work in the case. The City Commission in January had decided to forgo a settlement offer by the attorney, Andrea Mogensen, when the reimbursement would have totaled $56,750. However, City Attorney Robert Fournier explains during the April 16 commission meeting that, with the case not closed in January, the city could have ended up paying even more than the $90,173.18. ���At the end of the day,��� he said, ���it all worked out.��� From January through March, 251,800 visitors paid for lodging, a 10.7 percent increase over the 2011 figure of 227,400 for the same threemonth period, members of the Sarasota County Tourist Development Council learn during their regular meeting April 19. That figure did not include snowbirds or anyone else who stayed more than 60 days, said Walter Klages, CEO of Research Data Services, based in St. Petersburg and Tampa. The increase in the economic impact for the county for the same period from 2011 to 2012 was 17 percent, Klages says, for a total figure of $511,681,232. From January through March, Klages adds, visitor expenditures also increased 17 percent from 2011 to 2012, for a total of $269,618,100. The No. 1 Beach status for Siesta helped Sarasota County surpass 2011 tourism lodging and spending figures in January through March of 2012. Photo by Norman Schimmel