Commissioner Knight proposes idea as means of honoring Ford-Coates for 40 years of service to community
At the suggestion of Sarasota County Commissioner Tom Knight, the board members will rename the Mid-County Tax Collector’s Office on Sawyer Loop Road in Sarasota in honor of long-time Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates.
Additionally, the commissioners agreed — again, at Knight’s recommendation — that they will present a proclamation to Ford-Coates at a future meeting, to recognize her decades of service to county residents.
The unanimous decisions came on Dec. 17 as Knight was making his report to his colleagues as part of their regular meeting that day, in Venice.
“We have … people who have worked very, very hard for many, many years in this county and have done a great job and have taken politics out of [their work],” Knight began.
He believed it would be appropriate to rename the Mid-County Tax Collector’s Office in recognition of Ford-Coates’ service, he continued. Knight said he thought she had been tax collector since 1983 or 1984.
Former two-term Commissioner Michael Moran, a Republican, defeated Ford-Coates, a Democrat in the November General Election. Moran will take over leadership of the office on Jan. 7, 2025, a spokesperson for the office told The Sarasota News Leader. Ford-Coates’ last day will be Jan. 6.
Ford-Coates’ biography, on the Tax Collector’s website, notes that she joined the office in 1975 and first was elected tax collector in 1984.
The biography also pointed out that she was unopposed for re-election four times and had “received the highest vote count of any candidate (local, state or federal) on the Sarasota County ballot in three elections.”
Moreover, the biography noted, “She has the longest service in the history of Sarasota County elected officials and is the longest serving Florida Tax Collector currently in office.”
During the Dec. 17 discussion, Knight pointed out to his fellow commissioners that when he was the sheriff, he told colleagues with that agency, “If we can give the service that Barbara Ford-Coates gives, I won’t need any supervisors [to oversee employees].”
Referring to the renaming of the Mid-County facility, he continued, “I think that would be something [Ford-Coates] would cherish, and the people [who have worked for her would cherish]. And I think this community cherished her for the work she did.”
Knight added that he felt the board also should approve a resolution recognizing Ford-Coates’ decades of service to the community.
“Great idea,” Commissioner Mark Smith responded to both of Knight’s proposals.
“I can definitely support that, Commissioner,” interim Chair Joe Neunder said, adding that he believes he has known Ford-Coates and her family since he was in high school.
Taking Knight’s idea a step farther, Neunder continued, perhaps it would be appropriate to recognize Ford-Coates “here in Chambers” during a future commission meeting.
Referring to Ford-Coates’ tenure as tax collector, Neunder also pointed out, “That’s a long time in public service for Sarasota County.”
County Administrator Jonathan Lewis asked for a motion in regard to Knight’s proposal for renaming the Mid-County facility, but Lewis said no other board action would be needed for staff to proceed with drawing up a resolution to recognize Ford-Coates and scheduling a formal presentation of it.
Knight made the motion, and Commissioner Smith seconded it.
In response to a Sarasota News Leader request for a comment on the board’s action, Ford-Coates wrote in a Dec. 18 email, “It’s very kind of them to do this; I am truly honored.”
The Mid-County Tax Collector’s Office has been open since April 2018.
During her June 2018 presentation to the County Commission of her proposed budget for the 2019 fiscal year, Ford-Coates expressed her gratitude to the board for agreeing to construct the facility. “I can’t say how much I want to thank you and your staff,” she told the commissioners.
Since that office opened on April 30, 2018, she continued, more than 10,000 customers had been served, including almost 1,000 who had taken road tests.
“It’s been exciting to see the positive reactions from customers, as well as the staff that enjoys working in that new building,” Ford-Coates added.
Moving into the facility had enabled her to eliminate the expense of leasing a South Tamiami Trail office, she noted, as well as having to provide services at the former Florida Highway Patrol station on Pompano Avenue, next to the Sarasota County Fairgrounds.