Income sources had been duplicated
This week, Sarasota Mayor Debbie Trice told The Sarasota News Leader that she had filed an amended financial disclosure form with the Florida Commission on Ethics after realizing that she had made an error in her original filing.
On Nov. 28, after the News Leader reported on the city commissioners’ state-required “Form 1” filings for 2024 with the Florida Commission on Ethics, Trice contacted the publication. She explained, “When I electronically filed my Form 1, I attached a list of the individual funds that are in my IRAs. (The list of individual investments is required by the State; merely listing ‘IRA held by Vanguard’ is insufficient,” for example, she pointed out.)
“Apparently, this list got attached to both [the] ‘Primary Sources of Income’ and ‘Intangible Personal Property’ [sections], instead of just the latter.”
Trice added that she was uncertain about how she committed the error.
On Dec. 16, Trice wrote the News Leader an email about the changes she had made in the amended form. “My only sources of income (other than City compensation) are Social Security and a pension from IBM,” she pointed out.
The investments shown under the “Intangible Personal Property” heading, she wrote, “are primarily funds held in my IRA. The instructions for Form 1 say that the contents of one’s IRA must be listed,” she continued, noting, that that is “an instruction many ignore.”
The Form 1 filings are required of elected municipal leaders. The document does not call for an estimate of the board member’s net worth.
County commissioners must file more detailed, Form 6 documents, which do require a statement of net worth.