Commission debates inlet money

Sarasota County funding for waterway projects isn’t normally a contentious budget item. But, it hit some wake Tuesday, July 10, when Coastal Resources Manager Laird Wreford informed county commissioners during a meeting in Venice of a big shortfall in dollars earmarked for the Waterway Development Program.

Further friction came from the town of Longboat Key, whose mayor, Jim Brown, and town manager, David Bullock, attended the meeting to protest fire-and-rescue cuts, which had been allowed for the four previous years.

The Waterway Development Program has $1.36 million available in the 2013 fiscal year. But 15 applicants submitted 22 project requests totaling $1.89 million to the West Coast Inland Navigation District, the organization that oversees waterways for Sarasota County.

There is money available in the County Navigation Improvement Fund, which currently holds $783,519 in reserve tax dollars. But, the Coastal Advisory Committee, in its recommendation to commissioners, said the fund should be kept at or greater than $300,000.

However, after hearing Wreford’s presentation, commissioners were not satisfied with the two options presented.

The first scenario cut five marine patrol requests by 13.29% and eliminated two Mote Marine Laboratory plans for manatee and marine-mammal enhancement totaling $71,248 and a $5,000 Sarasota County Water Resources project. The county would need to extract $377,648 from the County Navigation Improvement Fund, as well.

“I know we’ve played this game with Mote for a while,” Commissioner Nora Patterson said. “But, I don’t know who’s going to pick up the dead manatees if they don’t.”

The second option kept non-law enforcement fund requests intact and decreased the same five marine patrol applications by 8.36%.

Commissioner Joe Barbetta said he would prefer that two projects the town of Longboat Key and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office submitted face lenient budget cuts. The two made voluntary decreases of 14% and 17%, respectively, prior to the July 10 meeting at the request of the Coastal Advisory Committee.
“Law enforcement gets a double whammy,” he said.

So, Wreford gave the floor to representatives from the Southwest Florida Water Management District for its controversial feral-hog hunt proposal and made some calculations to balance cuts to the five law-enforcement funding requests. He returned with numbers that pleased commissioners but violated the maximum threshold for law enforcement set by WCIND.

WCIND sets a maximum ratio of funding that can be disbursed for law enforcement at 30%, and an option that restored the voluntary cuts and reduced five law enforcement requests by 9% would put Sarasota County at 31.7%. Commissioners were most pleased with this scenario, which he labeled Option 5. (

Because the WCIND board set the rule, it could also be altered by the organization, Wreford said in a phone interview with the Pelican Press.

“With the help of Commissioner Patterson, we could perhaps get permission to slightly exceed the 30% or change the threshold by policy,” Wreford explained. Patterson said she would broach the subject at a July 18 meeting of WCIND. If unsuccessful, the law enforcement projects would have to be cut by $33,000, or roughly 10%.

“I’m obviously going to represent the (Board of County Commissioners), and I will do so strongly,” Patterson said. “But, it is possible that they wouldn’t accept it.”

Derelict boats: who’s responsible?
Tropical Storm Debby forced three sailboats to shore on City Island and sunk two vessels in the harbor near Marina Jack. City of Sarasota Police boats patrol those waters and are responsible for marking and removing vessels in its jurisdiction.

But, the tax burden usually falls on all residents in Sarasota County, which contributes funding to the West Coast Inland Navigation District for repair and maintenance of waterways.

Not this time. During a presentation to the Sarasota County Commission, Coastal resources Manager Laird Wreford said the city of Sarasota Police would use its own means to fund removal.