MSTUs to fund SSO?

[News Flash]

MSTUs to fund SSO?

Sarasota County commissioners will meet with city commissioners of Sarasota, Venice, Longboat Key and North Port.

Topic number one will be coping with tax cuts. Cities could simply walk away from some responsibilities. County Administrator Jim Ley warned cities that if they attempt to shift responsibilities, the level of service the county would provide would be greatly reduced.

Law Enforcement Issues
A proposal to change the way the Sarasota Sheriff's Office is funded is being closely examined. City citizens pay for the sheriff's office as part of their county taxes, but they also pay to support their municipal police.

• One option is called a Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU) which creates a separate "zone" and then taxes it to support the Sarasota Sheriff's Office. One potential "zone" would exclude the municipalities (since they already have a municipal police force). Exempting the zoned cities would shift the law enforcement burden away from the cities to the unincorporated area taxpayers. This could result in a $100 jump in property taxes for a $300,000 home in the unincorporated area of the county.
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• Or municipalities could contract with the sheriff's office for law enforcement inside city limits.
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• Or cities could be charged to use the jail.
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• Or everything could be kept the same. [/*:m:ynjykh5y]

All of these options will be on the table.

Jail Issues
The first actual agenda item is the need for a new county jail. Where it should be and how big it should be will be decided in the next year. Over the past decade, admission rates are up 18 percent, and the average length of stay is up 9 percent. The good news is, in the same period the total county population increased 25 percent, so the county overall is - from a statistical point of view - more law-abiding.

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VERY VERY INTERESTING, I LOVE THE IDEA

A fire chief told me that they are not having layoffs because they are funded through MSTUs, which aren't affected by Amendment 1.

we are having tough times comming very very soon. :cry:

we are having tough times comming very very soon. :cry:

Well with all the property foreclosures in North Port, it's going to be very very interesting to see how the city is maintained. Like the newspaper article said, cities can just "walk away" from providing certain services if it becomes too costly to do so. What services will the cities "walk away from"??? That's the 64,000 thousand dollar question!

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... 6_53708973

we are not hiring any more

we are not hiring any more

Nobody is hiring anymore, but the police and fire academies are full!!! Whenever there's a downturn in the economy, academies usually fill up pretty quick. People see government jobs as being pretty secure, but Amendment 1 makes unsecure for anyone that was recently hired.

The Sarasota County commissioners took away 1.7 million from our current budget. They just snatched it out of our hands. Plus they want us to reduce our budget by another 3.7 million (???) next year, which is going to cause the Sarasota Sheriff's Office to have to start laying off workers. :?

This year is bad, but next year will be ugly IF the commissioners do that.

[Retired n Luvin it]

But Help is on the way~~

As soon as the NCIC crime statistics go through the roof, and robberies and burglaries are soaring.... your federal government will come up with a plan

They will start issuing grants to put droves of cops on the streets, followed by more money for jails and prisons~~ Unfortunately in the meantime it is John Q Citizen who suffers the brunt of the street crime..

Me I live in a relatively crime free area~` and I am armed.. So I m set

Hard to find people who will admit to voting for Bush now that we are dealing with his aftermath.