Sheriff budget: Reducing municipal taxes due to lack of sheriff's patrols

[Earle Kimel]

Venice Mayor John Holic will lobby fellow mayors of Longboat Key, North Port and Sarasota to seek a tax break from Sarasota County services that city residents don’t receive, specifically from road patrol services from the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office.

The plan is to get Sarasota County commissioners to change the way the Sarasota sheriff’s budget is funded. Specifically, the goal is to get Sarasota County to mirror the way that Pinellas County and Charlotte County fund their sheriffs' budgets.

For example, services such as sheriff's corrections and courts are a countywide benefit that would be paid for by all taxpayers. However, the municipalities do not receive sheriff's road patrol services, so the plan is to have Sarasota County create a separate tax rate for road patrol services (called a municipal services taxing unit) that county residents would pay, but city residents would not.

It's legal for Pinellas and Charlotte counties, and it's legal for Sarasota County because...

Full story:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article...ak-from-county

[Unregistered]

Good Idea.

Deputies are paid too much already.

[Unregistered]

Good Idea.

Deputies are paid too much already.

The article has nothing to do with salaries. However, why do you think that Kurt Hoffman and John Walsh are making too much money up on the 2nd floor?

[sig 2O]

The article has nothing to do with salaries. However, why do you think that Kurt Hoffman and John Walsh are making too much money up on the 2nd floor?

Would we hire a candidate who has a background even remotely similar to Hoffman's past or Walsh's past? LOL nope! However, Knight will promote'em into his inner circle. If the second floor had even a fraction of integrity, then this board would dry up and go away. But it won't.

[Unregistered]

Would we hire a candidate who has a background even remotely similar to Hoffman's past or Walsh's past? LOL nope! However, Knight will promote'em into his inner circle. If the second floor had even a fraction of integrity, then this board would dry up and go away. But it won't.

The OP is correct: the article is about taxes and budgeting for the Sarasota Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Knight pays Colonel Hoffman around $140,000 and Captain Walsh is paid around $115,000 each year, and one of their appointed duties is to work with budgeting. Exactly what makes them untrustworthy to be in charge of a multi-million budget of taxpayers dollars? Have they committed immoral or illegal acts? Hearsay and rumor is one thing, but getting caught and documentation is entirely different.

[Unregistered]

Cut Patrol Deputy Salaries. They make way too much. That would balance the budget.

[cut the fat]

Cut Deputy Salaries. They make way too much. That would balance the budget.

Your friend "Mr. Knight" already lowered salaries of deputies (in courts) and deputies (in the jail). Instead of cutting deputies salaries, why not cut unnecessary fat instead? For example, after cutting deputies salaries, Knight asked commissioners for money to hire ANOTHER "media specialist." That's not financially prudent. And that's just one example.

[Unregistered]

Would we hire a candidate who has a criminal and/or immoral background even remotely similar to Hoffman's past or Walsh's past? LOL nope! However, Knight will promote'em into his inner circle. If the second floor had even a fraction of integrity, then this board would dry up and go away. But it won't.

If Colonel Kurt Hoffman and Capt. John Walsh have committed criminal or immoral acts, then post the proof here or shut up!

[Unregistered]

If Colonel Kurt Hoffman and Capt. John Walsh have committed criminal or immoral acts, then post the proof here or shut up!

It's not criminal or unethical unless you get caught, right? Were they caught for anything?

[Unregistered]

MSTUs are being discussed at the SPD board.

It was previously litigated (from the wrong legal angle) several years ago -- and the Florida Supreme Court ruled that cities must pay taxes, even if the sheriff does not provide "road patrols." However, Venice Mayor Holic found another legal angle where cities can legally pay fewer taxes, based on the creation of special "municipal taxing units" (aka MSTUs). Pinnellas County and Charlotte County are already implementing this legalized way of getting a tax reduction for city residents who don't have sheriff's "road patrols." If City of Sarasota commissioners had known about this MSTU loophole, they would have pursued it many years ago -- but they didn't know about it. Nobody in Sarasota County knew about the MSTU specialized loophole either!

The creation of special MSTUs to pay for SSO services was previously presented to Bill Balkwill several years ago, but a SSO 2nd floor person (who shall remain anonymous for safety) explained that it would be a very bad idea for the SSO and for county taxpayers (although it would be a good idea for city taxpayers because their taxes will drop). He said that it's too easy to max out county MSTUs (not city MSTUs) -- and county citizens will notice it when their county MSTU rate rises too fast and too often. He said that it's better to leave it the way it is because we can get a bigger piece of the pie from the county's general revenue pot. Citizens don't pay attention to general revenues and what it gets spent on. However, citizens definitely notice an increase in MSTU tax rates because citizens get an itemized bill every year. And while the creation of specialized MSTUs would be good for city taxpayers (because their taxes would fall), it would be a bad idea for county taxpayers (because their taxes would rise to pay for SSO patrol services).