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AT RISK Because of insufficient facilities, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office's vehicle inventory, worth more than $7 million, is said to be vulnerable to natural disasters — Rachel Brown Hackney Because he has no covered area in which to keep them, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office vehicles — including its command post, bomb truck, fuel tanker and SWAT "Bearcat" — could be wiped out in a major hurricane, Sheriff Tom Knight told the Sarasota County Commission last week. "We have virtually nowhere to store them," he added. That inventory has a value of approximately $7.3 million, Wendy Rose, the sheriff's community affairs manager, told The Sarasota News Leader. By unanimous vote on Jan. 8, the County Commission agreed to hold a workshop as soon as possible with Knight and his command staff about his office's long-term facilities needs. (Full story here) TAKING THE LONG VIEW County Commission locks in reduced road impact fees for another two years — Cooper Levey-Baker The Sarasota County Commission voted Wednesday, Jan. 16, to lock in reduced impact fee rates for another two years, bypassing a staff recommendation to extend the reduction only till July. The commission this month originally wanted to review and approve a completely new impact fee rate schedule, fleshed out with "the most recent and localized data," per state law. Road impact fees are the charges billed to developers to offset increased stress placed on county resources by new construction. Impact fees accounted for $3.5 million in revenue in 2012, according to County Engineer James K. Harriott Jr. (Full story here) For The Best Reading Experience Get Sarasota News Leader On Your Tablet SarasotaNewsLeader.com/webapp Click Any Headline To Go Directly To That Article AT A GLANCE TOP STORIES