Ahearn-Koch and Battie explain their filing of simpler ‘Form 1’ documents with Commission on Ethics
Although a preliminary injunction that a federal judge issued in June made it unnecessary for the members of the Sarasota City Commission to file more detailed financial disclosure forms this year, three of them did so, as shown in the records maintained by the Florida Commission on Ethics.
Two of those board members are facing challengers in the Nov. 5 General Election: Mayor Liz Alpert and Commissioner Erik Arroyo. The third was Commissioner Debbie Trice, who won her seat in 2022.
The “Form 6” documents that a 2023 state law required — before U.S. District Court Judge Melissa Damian, in the Southern District of Florida — do call for each elected official’s net worth, while the Form 1 documents that Vice Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch and Commissioner Kyle Scott Battie filed with the Division on Ethics do not.
In reviewing the forms, The Sarasota News Leader found that Trice listed her net worth as $1,571,455.89 as of Feb. 29. She filed her Form 6 on April 11. Arroyo listed his net worth as $503,722.72 as of May 15, while Alpert put her net worth at $102,515 as of Dec. 31, 2023.
In response to the Sarasota News Leader’s question about why she used Form 1 again this year, Ahearn-Koch noted her work with the Florida League of Cities, which was opposed to the change in the financial disclosure process for city government leaders. (County commissioners do have to use the Form 6 document.)
During a Sept. 18 telephone interview, Ahearn-Koch noted that a number of city governing board members in Florida resigned their positions because of the state law, including the majority of the St. Pete Beach City Council. “It’s pretty invasive,” she said of the Form 6 requirements. People serving as elected leaders in their municipalities, she indicated, should not be judged on the basis of their income.
Moreover, Ahearn-Koch said, some who would have to provide extensive details about possessions such as art collections likely would worry about being targeted for theft.
“Other people told me how uncomfortable they were with the situation,” she added of the Form 6 requirement.
“Anything you do to keep good candidates from running is a disservice to the community,” Ahearn-Koch pointed out.
She did start to fill out a Form 6, she said, but “I was a little intimidated.” She would have had to pay her accountant to handle that for her, Ahearn-Koch added, given the breadth of information required. Yet, she noted, “I’m not a wealthy person.”
She has been running her own marketing, public relations and communications business for about 23 years, she pointed out.
By the time she needed to file her financial disclosure information with the state, the court already had issued the injunction, so she proceeded with the Form 1, Ahearn-Koch said. “I did it in 2 seconds,” she noted, comparing the time that took to the time — and expense — involved in filing the Form 6.
Commissioner Battie responded via email to the News Leader’s inquiry about his submission of a Form 1 this year to the Commission on Ethics: “At the time of filing my financial form, the governmental requirement was for form 1. I do believe in abiding by and satisfying governmental requirements.”
Alpert’s report
In her Form 6, Mayor Alpert listed 11 assets ranging in value from $769,800 — her Gulfstream Avenue condominium — to $1,253, which was in a checking account.
Other than her home, the asset with the highest value was her Florida Retirement System account, which held $15,784, the form said.
She listed the liquidation value of her law firm as $1,500.
As for liabilities: Alpert listed four. The largest was a Bank of America mortgage totaling $594,697.
Two of the others were student loans, while the third was an auto loan.
In regard to income sources, Alpert noted that she received $57,000 from her law practice, $43,198 from the city and $36,491 from Social Security.
The aggregate value of Alpert’s goods and personal effects was listed as $27,720.
Arroyo’s documentation
Mirroring Alpert, Commissioner Arroyo named his Whispering Oaks Court home as his asset with the highest value: $663,000. It was one of nine assets on his Form 6.
The asset with the second largest value was his office, which stands at 46 N. Washington Blvd.: $250,000.
The lowest value was attributed to his Chase bank account: $11,828.11; his Ipava State Bank business checking account held $12,350.71.
In regard to Arroyo’s liabilities, the largest was a Wells Fargo home mortgage listed as $314,000. As of the May 15 date of his filing, the form also noted, he owed $216,224.73 in federal student loans. The creditor for his third liability also was Ipava State Bank: $267,374.63.
Arroyo put his City Commission income at $50,308.53, while he listed $255,034.46 as his 50% share of the Arroyo McArdle law firm.
The aggregate value of his personal goods and effects was $60,000, the form said.
Trice’s Form 6
In her Form 6 filing, Commissioner Trice listed 32 assets, almost all of which were investments. They ranged in value from $262,630.85 to $1,665.95. Her checking account held $1,626.69 at the time of her April filing with the Commission on Ethics, the form said.
She did not list any liabilities.
Trice provided four sources of income, noting that she had received $48,548.57 from the city. Her Social Security payments added up to $38,706.80.
Additionally, she listed an IBM pension and dividends from an investment fund.
For Trice, the aggregate value of goods and personal effects was $70,000.
Ahearn-Koch’s Form 1 details
As she has in the past, Commissioner Ahearn-Koch noted two sources of income on her Form 1, which reflected her financial interests as of Dec. 31, 2023. Those were her city salary and her business, JAKConsults.
She did not list any real property, but she did note a Florida pre-paid college fund as intangible property.
Her only creditor was Fifth Third Bank.
Battie’s Form 1
Commissioner Battie also listed two sources of income: his city salary and Birthright Family Limited Partnership, which he identified as being involved in real estate. Those were unchanged from his filing last year with the Commission on Ethics.
However, in his 2022 Form 1, Battie put Birthright’s address as 1415 Second St., Unit 1025, in Sarasota. This year, the business address is listed as 301 Quay Commons, Unit 1501.
Last year, in reporting on the city commissioners’ finances, the News Leaderfound on the OpenCorporates website that Birthright was incorporated in May 2002 with a registered address in Powhatan, Va.
Manta.com said the firm was categorized under “Private Estate, Personal Investment and Vacation Fund Trusts.” The Manta record added that the company was estimated to have annual revenue of $111,289, and it had approximately two employees.
The address listed on OpenCorporates for Birthright is that of a single-family home, Realtor websites show. The property last was sold in 2029 for $602,300, one of those sites says.
A News Leader search this week for information about creating family limited partnerships found an October 2023 article in TheStreet, by Lisa Featherngill and Melissa Linn. It explained, “A Family Limited Partnership (FLP) or Family Limited Liability Company (FLLC) is a legal entity created among family members. FLPs and FLLCs provide an excellent vehicle to centralize the management of assets, protect against creditors, reduce administration expenses of investments, and expose younger family members to the investment and management of assets. In some states, the law favors FLLCs over FLPs.”
That article added, “An FLP has a general partner, typically a parent, who controls the management of the partnership and is liable for all partnership debts. The general partner may be a corporation or limited liability company owned by the parent and therefore shields the general partner from unlimited liability.
“The limited partners, typically children, have no control over management of the partnership assets, receive their pro-rata share of partnership income and are liable only to the extent of their investment in the partnership,” the article continued.
“Distributions, transfers, and other administrative items are controlled by the Partnership Agreement,” the article said.
The Redfin.com real estate website says Unit 301 at the Quay Commons address Battie provided in the form is a three-bedroom, three-bath condominium in the Bayso complex; the condo last sold for $1,879,260 on Dec. 15, 2023.
The Sarasota County Property Appraiser Office website says the owner of that unit is Prodigy Bayso LLC of East Aurora, N.Y. Property Appraiser Office staff put the market value of the condo at $1,484,500.
A search of New York State records found Prodigy Bayso listed as a domestic limited liability company whose initial filing with the Department of State’s Division of Corporations was on Sept. 8, 2023. The company also is noted as being based in Erie County.
Bizapedia says the company’s principal address is in Albany: 100 State St., Suite 800.