Sarasota News Leader
January 3, 2014
the hint." The mayor talks about limiting the
hours liquor can be sold downtown to 11 p.m.
to underscore his message. "If these guys
can't get on the right page and can't get cooperating, I have no problem cutting them off
at 11," Snyder tells his colleagues. "They will
understand: Turn the volume down."
Sarasota County Administrator Randy Reid
on Sept. 5 signs off on a $90,000 deal that
puts a Tennessee-based economic research
and consulting firm with ties to the Reagan
Administration in charge of reviewing
Sarasota 2050's fiscal neutrality rules. The
regulations have been one of the most controversial points in the debate over the county's
overhaul of 2050, a land-use plan approved
a decade ago to encourage the construction
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of walkable, mixed-use communities. Fiscal
neutrality is simply the "requirement that
any new growth pay its way," Allen Parsons,
the county's long-range planning manager,
told the County Commission in July. Donna
Arduin, who worked with the county to
analyze the economic impact of the Nathan
Benderson Park rowing facility, will represent
Lauffer Associates in the review. Arduin was
also the architect of Gov. Rick Scott's "7-7-7"
plan, which he touted throughout his 2010
campaign. The scope of work in the county
contract calls for a "policy assessment" that
will examine how the county should assess
and monitor fiscal neutrality. Laffer Associates
will first report back on its findings to the
County Commission in early December, with
two additional meetings scheduled for early
2014. A draft of the company's report is due
The county in September inked a deal to have Donna Arduin review the fiscal neutrality section of the 2050
Plan. Photo from the Virginia Institute for Public Policy
