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the county would gain $3.5 million annually if the CRA died, with the number rising over time to $5 million or more every year. Meanwhile, the Cities of North Port and Venice will be eyeing the April 1 proceedings carefully. If Sarasota gets another 30 years of CRA funding, why cannot they, too, enjoy the benefits of the scheme? With North Port now the largest city in the county by popu- lation, there is pressure for the same kind of development there that the CRA provided in downtown Sarasota. County commissioners fear an extension of the Sarasota CRA will feed the desires of North Port and Venice residents for their own CRAs. And it is possible the CRA deci- sion may be held hostage to county demands that the City of Sarasota turn over real estate along Ringling Boulevard, as well as further demands to create a homeless shelter in Newtown. There might be other points the city could be forced to cede to even get the extension discussion going. The talks are not expected to start in a pleas- ant atmosphere. While the agenda originally had the CRA discussion as its single topic, the county added a new item last week. At noon on April 1, the two bodies will talk about county homelessness and vagrancy prob- lems, along with efforts to create a shelter in the city. Right now, the City Commission is locked in a 3-2 split in favor of creating the shelter, but that does not sit well with county commissioners. At 1:30 p.m., the CRA discussion is scheduled to begin. Expect 90 tense minutes before dis- cussion starts on the future of as much as $500 million in property tax revenue. But before they begin talking, the city and county commissioners formally will receive a 130-page report and see a 76-slide presen- tation — products of the ad hoc committee's meetings. It will be an eventful afternoon. % The City Commission discusses its budget in September 2013. Photo by Norman Schimmel Sarasota News Leader March 28, 2014 Page 43