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lower Main Street area up to Fourth Street. There it joins Orange Avenue and swings back to 10th Street. The interlocal agreement to create the CRA was signed in 1986, which is the base year for the tax-increment financing scheme. The CRA was planned to be in effect for 30 years, until 2016. Through September 2012, it had raised $76 million. Seventy percent of that went to "bricks and mortar" projects; 8 percent went for administration, and 15 percent was spent on "enhanced services," including landscap- ing and highway maintenance, police services and transfers to the more recent CRA estab- lished in north Sarasota. While the core reason to establish a CRA was to fight "slum and blight," state law actually allows spending the money on a wide variety of measures. Those include crime prevention, historic preservation, business recruitment, parks and recreation enhancement and eco- nomic development. The current CRA is governed by the Sarasota City Commission. The committee studying extending the current CRA recommends it go on for another 30 years, keeping the 1986 base tax value year but changing the gover- nance to a seven-member board composed of two city commissioners, two county commis- sioners and three citizens appointed by the City Commission. Assuming no change in the tax rate and 5-per- cent annual growth in taxable value in the downtown CRA, a 30-year extension would contribute $351 million in county taxes. When the city portion is added, the CRA between 2016 and 2046 could be worth more than half a billion dollars. % • Gene Burgess and Melonie Burgess, licensed acupuncture physicians • Serving Sarasota since 2008 • Treatment rates are on a sliding scale, from $15-$35; new patients pay a one-time additional fee of $10 AFFORDABLE ACUPUNCTURE FOR EVERYONE 3615 Webber St • Sarasota, FL 34232 (941) 922-4611 SarasotaCommunityAcupuncture.com Open Tuesday through Saturday Our Mission To provide our community with high quality and affordable acupuncture and herbal medicine and to create a treatment space that connects people and builds community. Click for larger map and driving directions Click To Schedule An Appointment Online MENTION THIS AD TO RECEIVE $5 OFF THE NEW PATIENT FEE Sarasota News Leader January 31, 2014 Page 59