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Sarasota News Leader April 12, 2013 Page 41 Exner noted that part of the increase had gone to Operations & Maintenance as a chargeback for staff services. His office had been careful to budget everything with TDT revenue that those funds could cover, he added. "Are any of these phantom charges in there that we've seen [with other projects]?" Barbetta asked, referencing a discussion several weeks ago about chargebacks for staff work included in the overall cost of the new South Lido Beach restrooms. "I'm sure part of that is for our chargebacks," Exner said. "That's my concern," Barbetta told him. "That's not a true expense." "It isn't a phantom cost," Patterson interjected. "It just comes from another pocket." For example, she said, if Chief Financial Planning Officer Steve Botelho and his staff spend time on beach maintenance issues, money allocated for beach maintenance would cover their time. "Either you pay it out of your general fund or you try to attribute it to your different departments," she said. Commissioner Nora Patterson/File photo Exner responded that "small percentages" were going out of the beach maintenance funds to a number of offices, including those for the county's fleet and administration. "In my opinion," Barbetta said, "it inflates costs," adding he suspected more staff members from various departments were sitting Nonetheless, Patterson continued, "If [ac- in on meetings just to make sure funds were counts are] padded, I agree with [Barbetta], charged back to their departments. but if it's simply allocation of time spent, "I guess I'd like to assume that's not the case," you're going to pay for it one way or another." Patterson said. She pointed out that the County Commission several years ago discussed such apportioning "What has changed over the past years to funding for staff time on various projects "and make that number [for Operations & Maintenance] jump like that?" he reiterated. "We're did decide that it was fair to do that." still maintaining the beaches the same." Still, Barbetta pointed to how the chargeback to Operations & Maintenance had increased "We'll get a report on that specific item," County Administrator Randall Reid told him. about $300,000 from FY 2010 to FY 2012.