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Sarasota News Leader September 27, 2013 Page 74 missioners had engaged in "hours and hours and hours of discussion" to reach that point. The board held its first FY 2014 budget workshop in February. of respondents did not want to see their taxes go up. "But what we've realized," Hines said, "is we've increased services to the point they cost more than we're taking in." A day later, during the Commission Reports part of the board's regular meeting in Sarasota, Vice Chairman Charles Hines said, "I really appreciate the debate that occurred and what's been brought out through those public [budget] meetings and workshops." Steve Botelho, the county's chief financial planning officer, has estimated that $11 million will have to be used from the economic uncertainty reserve fund to balance the FY 2013 budget. He pointed to "how important it is to look at how we're spending money and the policies that we set," and he thanked Robinson for "raising some flags and constantly reminding us we've got to really look at this hard." Referring to comments in the county's 2013 Citizens Survey, Hines noted that the majority During the board's last budget workshop, on Sept. 6, Botelho provided a chart showing the worst-case estimate for the amount needed from that reserve fund to balance the FY 2014 budget: $29,181,951. That figure could be lowered by another increase in property values, reduced expenses and growth in other sources of revenue, he pointed out. % A pie chart shows general fund expenditures projected for Sarasota County in the 2014 fiscal year. Image courtesy of Sarasota County