SARASOTA – As city leaders debate how to continue their redevelopment agency after its funding expires in September, they have realized their long-running discussion overlooked some basic math.
The city and Sarasota County agreed in 1986 to allocate tax revenues resulting from rising property values in targeted areas of the city every year for 30 years to help fund improvements and seed redevelopment in downtown and, later, in Newtown.
County leaders have said they do not want to contribute to funding the program once the agreement expires this year, dissolving the “tax increment financing” system for the community redevelopment agency, or CRA.