Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/356321
At the end of two long budget workshops on Wednesday, July 23, and Thursday, July 24, the Sarasota city commissioners approved a tentative overall budget of $198.9 million for Fiscal Year 2014-15, a 3.37-percent increase over the current year's budget. The city's fis- cal year (and the county's) begins on Oct. 1. City revenues do not equal expenses for the next year. A $3.9 million shortfall will be made up by a change in the way the city's pays for retiree benefits (see the related story in this issue). City administration proposes hiring several new personnel in the coming period. Among them would be a civilian investigator for the Police Department's Narcotics Unit, an assis- tant city engineer, a grants coordinator in the Finance Department, a supervisor for the R.L. Taylor Community Complex's new ath- letic field, a zoning analyst, another building inspector and a parking garage supervisor/ attendant. Personnel costs will again consume about 80 percent of the city's overall expenditures. In September, the City Commission will hold public hearings on the 2015 fiscal year budget. Photo by Norman Schimmel TAPPING RETIREES' BENEFITS WITH THE LAST OF THEIR 'RAINY DAY' RESERVES NEEDED TO PLUG A HOLE IN THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR BUDGET, THE CITY COMMISSIONERS LOOK TO A DIFFERENT SOURCE TO SHORE UP THE GAP IN THEIR 2015 SPENDING PLAN By Stan Zimmerman City Editor