Sarasota News Leader

07/26/2013

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Sarasota News Leader July 26, 2013 Page 43 blight" in a defined area of downtown Saraso- for projects. The rest ostensibly goes toward ta. Much later, they added the Newtown area city operations in the district — such as police to the CRA. protection. But in reality, that $2.6 million is put back into the city's general fund. Each year as property values grow, the difference between the 1986 tax revenue and cur- In 2004, the City Commission decided unilatrent revenue grows as well. For the current erally to use CRA money to fund operations of fiscal year, the county is contributing $3.5 mil- the Police Department and landscaping crews. lion, and the city is kicking in $3.1 million. Several county commissioners are concerned about how the city is running the CRA. The deal has produced $76 million over the past 27 years. In the early days, fully 95 per- The original agreement was good for 30 years; cent of the money went into "bricks and mor- it expires in 2016. The committee is tasked tar" infrastructure. Today about half is used with making recommendations about the In 2003, city officials worked with representatives of Whole Foods, whose headquarters is in Austin, TX, to open a store in downtown Sarasota. Photo by LoneStarMike via Wikimedia Commons

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