Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/293799
Silvertooth Judicial Center (see the related stories in this issue), along with the extension of the downtown CRA and other "kick sand" issues. The City of Sarasota is pushing ahead with plans to "reset" the base year for compu tation of property tax revenue going into the Newtown Community Redevelopment Agency. The CRA was established in 2008, at the peak of property tax values, which have since fallen. Because the CRA takes the difference — called the "increment" — between revenue produced by tax levies in the base year and each subsequent year, the Newtown CRA has not produced a dime; the "increment" has been negative. For the defined area of Newtown covered by the CRA, the total property value was $176 million in the base year of 2008. In 2012, the value fell to $94.5 million, a drop of more than 46 percent. However, the city commissioners planned a public hearing for April 21 to shift the Newtown CRA base year to 2013. Property values in the area have started to rebound, A map shows the boundaries of the Newtown CRA. Image courtesy Sarasota County Sarasota News Leader April 11, 2014 Page 15