MSTUs to fund SSO?
Quote Originally Posted by Anonymous author, Pelican Press
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.
    [/*:m:ynjykh5y]
  • Or municipalities could contract with the sheriff's office for law enforcement inside city limits.
    [/*:m:ynjykh5y]
  • Or cities could be charged to use the jail.
    [/*:m:ynjykh5y]
  • 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.
Click here for the full story.