Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/97647
ONE STEP CLOSER The Hub Baja Grill (right) and The Cottage on Avenida Messina are two of the Siesta Village properties owned by Chris Brown. Photo by Norman Schimmel AFTER CURRENT FISCAL YEAR PARKING ASSESSMENTS ARE COLLECTED FOR THE SIESTA VILLAGE MUNICIPAL LOT, A COUNTY PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE SCHEDULED TO ABOLISH THE PARKING DISTRICT By Rachel Brown Hackney Editor Siesta Key property and business owners moved one step closer on Tuesday, Dec. 4, to seeing an end to a special tax designed to pay for the municipal parking lot in Siesta Village. On a 4-1 vote, the Sarasota County Commission approved a staff recommendation to terminate the collection of the parking assessment after the taxes come in for the current fiscal year. the county's Mobility/Traffic Office, told the board during its regular meeting on Dec. 4. No one spoke during the public hearing held on the matter. Following an Oct. 10 discussion in which commissioners agreed county staff had applied the parking assessment methodology on an unequal basis, the commissioners voted 4-1 to authorize the advertisement of the Dec. 4 public hearing as the first step in abolishing Once all those funds are in, the next step will the parking district. be to hold a public hearing, followed by another commission vote to abolish the district As she did on Dec. 4, Commissioner Nora Pataltogether, Ryan Montague, a staff member in terson cast the lone "No" vote on Oct. 10. At