Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/316941
The Sarasota County Commission last week gave the nod to move forward on approximately $9.8 million in infrastructure acquisition and improvements — an investment necessitated in part by new driver license responsibilities passed on to the county tax collector by the Florida Legislature. In 2011, the Florida Legislature approved a measure requiring tax collectors to take over all driver license transactions by June 2015. According to Sarasota County Chief Deputy Tax Collector Liz Klaber, that means 45,000 more transac- tions for her office annually. The tax collector has been handling driver license renewals and other common procedures since 1996, but the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' facility on Pompano Avenue, behind Robarts Arena, has for years been the only spot in the county for driving tests, one of the responsi- bilities that will fall on the tax collector next summer. A n d w h i l e F l o r i d a tax collectors will b e r e c ei v i n g s o m e The Sarasota Terrace Hotel under construction in the 1920s Photo courtesy scgov.net $9.8 MILLION TOWARD NEW INFRASTRUCTURE WITH NEW BURDENS ON THE TAX COLLECTOR, THE COUNTY COMMISSION APPROVES ROADMAP FOR RENOVATION, CONSTRUCTION Do these projects as quickly as possible. This is key infrastructure. Joe Barbetta Commissioner Sarasota County By Cooper Levey-Baker Associate Editor