Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/235968
Sarasota News Leader January 3, 2014 As the Sarasota County commissioners craft another version of an interlocal agreement over the future of Warm Mineral Springs, the majority agrees certain points have to be made clear to the North Port City Commission: State law will not allow the county to engage in any lease to keep the facility open without going through a competitive bid process; the two local government bodies are equal partners in the resort; and the two boards did agree in July 2012 to work together on how best to manage the springs in the future. Commissioner Joe Barbetta casts the single "No" on the vote that directs County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh to complete the revised document and send it to the City of North Port as soon as possible. Thanks to Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight's implementation of an Intelligence Led Policing program since he was first elected in 2008, the county has seen a 25 percent reduction in crime. The decrease from 2011 to 2012 was 18 percent, and the crime rate was down another 14 percent for the first quarter of 2013, Knight tells the County Commission during its June 21 budget workshop. Almost as great a point of pride for him, Knight notes, is the fact that citizen complaints coming into his office have declined 22 percent over the past four years. Because of the effectiveness of the Intelligence Led Policing (ILP) program, Knight also wants to provide pay raises to the sergeants and lieutenants who carry most of the load, he tells the commission — "the law enforcement individuals I believe are responsible for our crime decrease." He is seeking $91,873,196 for the 2014 fiscal year, while his current budget is $86,554,672. However, Knight points out, Page 65 $3,546,424 of the projected expenses for the new fiscal year, which will begin Oct. 1, are beyond his control, including a $1.7 million hike in payments to the Florida Retirement System. Because most of his employees are in the "special risk" category for health benefits, the Sheriff's Office's new chief financial officer, Lisa Kiesel adds, the office also will have to absorb greater expenses for them. Because the Florida Legislature approved a 2011 bill mandating that county tax collectors take over all driver license services no later than June 2015, the Sarasota County Tax Collector's Office will need about $1 million to renovate existing facilities and probably a maximum of $3.5 million for a new, central location to serve customers, Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates tells the Sarasota County Commission on June 21. In presenting her budget for the 2014 fiscal year, FordCoates says she also has planned for four new employees next year and another eight for the 2015 fiscal year to make the transition possible. She is anticipating an extra 45,000 walk-in customers at her offices, resulting in a 30 percent increase in transaction time. Already, Ford-Coates continues, she and her staff have been working with Sarasota County Property Appraiser Bill Furst about remodeling her offices in the Terrace Building in downtown Sarasota — with Furst moving employees out of the first-floor space they have been occupying. Remodeling will be necessary as well at the R.L. Anderson Administration Center in Venice. The changes in those two buildings will cost about $1 million, Ford-Coates said.