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Sarasota News Leader July 12, 2013 Page 54 to handle mowing. Commissioners have said numerous times over the past year that they found it highly embarrassing to see grass grow so high along roadsides and in medians because of problems encountered with contracted mowing services. The county fielded a significant number of complaints about the situation last summer. If the County Commission approves all the requested new positions, the FTE count will rise from 3,297 in the current fiscal year to 3,402 in the 2014 fiscal year. The FY 2014 budget requests from departments included requests for 36.9 new FTEs. Among them would be six new employees in the Sheriff's Office, one new Code Enforcement officer and one new employee in the Natural Resources Department to assist with a backlog of work as well as the completion of the Post Disaster Response Plan (PDRP). Barbetta recently has complained about the delay in finalizing the PDRP. However, the material provided to the board in advance of its June 12 budget workshop showed a projected draw of $27.7 million from reserves to cover expenses for FY 2014. The county used $9.2 million in reserves during the 2012 fiscal year, a chart shows. Botelho told the board he estimated at least that much would be used again for the current fiscal year, though the projected amount shown on a chart was $15.9 million. % During their June 21 budget workshop, the commissioners did approve the hiring of two additional Code Enforcement officers to focus on stopping the work of unlicensed contracAnother 18.8 FTEs were approved to maintain tors in the county. Robinson cast the sole "No" parks and athletic fields. vote on that decision, citing concern about how much of its reserves the county will have Additionally, the board agreed several weeks to spend to balance the FY 2014 budget. ago to hire nine new staff members in the Planning and Development Services Depart- Thanks to a 4.2 percent increase in properment to handle the increased workload ema- ty values this year, the new budget will have nating from growth linked to the improving an extra $4.4 million in general fund revenue economy. Seven of those positions will be paid compared to what was available for the curfor through fees collected by the department. rent fiscal year. I am so incredibly pleased, with my beautiful smile and my comfortable and natural bite. - Barbara Lee For a complimentary consultation call 941.923.5406 | Christine Koval, D.M.D. | www.askdrkoval.com