Hoffman also proposes Sarasota County fund for betterment of animals
As part of his report to the Sarasota County Commission during their regular meeting on Nov. 17, in Sarasota, County Administrator Jonathan Lewis is scheduled to bring up Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt A. Hoffman’s plea “to address the critical need to increase fees collected by Sarasota County Animal Services,” as Hoffman pointed out in an Aug. 31 letter to Lewis.
The letter is part of the Nov. 17 agenda packet, The Sarasota News Leader observed this week.
Hoffman pointed out that the fees for Animal Services actions performed by the Sheriff’s Office, “and the civil penalties required for violations of Chapter 14 [of the County Code of Ordinances] have not been updated since 2011.” He added, “These fees and fines fund the shelter’s animal welfare services,” including “veterinary care and shelter for lost and abandoned animals, animal neglect and cruelty investigations, and emergency care of injured pets.”
Further, Hoffman noted, state law and a county ordinance make clear that “all cats and dogs four months old or older must receive a one-year or three-year rabies shot.” Section 14-38 of the County Code also says that pet owners must obtain an annual license, he continued.
The county charges $10 for the annual license for a dog or cat that has been spayed or neutered. For those pets that have not been spayed or neutered, Hoffman pointed out, the annual license costs $25.
“I am proposing a $5.00 increase to both fees,” he wrote.
For comparison purposes, Hoffman noted, Pinellas County charges $23, while Manatee County charges $20.
Additionally, Hoffman is recommending increases in the registration fees for a “vicious animal” or “dangerous dog,” he told Lewis. The current fee is $100 a year, with $225 charged for the initial registration. Hoffman proposed $500 for both the initial and annual registration fees.
That is the same amount charged for a dangerous dog in Pinellas and Manatee counties, Hoffman wrote; neither jurisdiction has a “provision relating to ‘vicious animals.’ ”
Yet another issue he has targeted is the civil fine structure.
“Sarasota County has the lowest civil citations penalties in almost all categories when compared to Pinellas, Manatee, and Lee Counties,” he pointed out. “In 2024,” Hoffman continued, “my office issued 2,277 citations.”
His recommendation, he continued, is to increase the fines 25% across the board, except in those cases “where established fines are already the maximum” in accord with Chapter 14-52 of the County Code.
A fund for the betterment of animals
Yet another idea Hoffman broached in the letter is the “need to establish an Animal Welfare Trust Fund.”
“The proposed ‘Sarasota County Animal Welfare Trust Fund,’ ” he proposed, “would be a donor funded resource to help the animals of Sarasota County, Florida. This fund would allow the Sarasota County Government to accept donations, gifts, grants, special awards, and even allow the acceptance of charitable bequests for the betterment of all animals in our care,” he noted.
“A sheriff as a constitutional officer does not have explicit authority under the law to accept monetary donations, and any monetary donations received by a sheriff’s office in Florida would be required to be returned to the county government at the end of the budget year,” he explained.
“Potential donors often approach my office,” Hoffman continued, “asking if they can bequeath a portion of their estate (including real property) to animal services. As you are aware,” he told Lewis, “sheriffs do not have the legal authority to own real property, and my office has had to turn away years of testamentary gifts of real property that would benefit animal services.”
However, Hoffman pointed out, “The Sarasota County Government has the legal authority to accept real property gifts and bequests, accept monetary donations, and allocate those donations for a specific purpose: the betterment of all animals in the custody of animal services.”
He further explained, “It is my intent that the donations made to this fund would be able to be used for food, medical care, toys, equipment, and services above and beyond what has been allocated by taxpayers.”
The governments of Pinellas, Charlotte, Orange, Seminole, Miami-Dade and Broward counties all have established animal welfare funds “to benefit their animal services,” he added.
He provided links to more information about those counties’ funds.
An issue with the use of Special Magistrates
Finally, Hoffman pointed out that language in Chapter 14 of the County Code specifies that hearings required to review an action or a determination of the Animal Services director “shall be heard by a Special Magistrate” selected by the County Commission.
Special Magistrates are attorneys.
That same chapter also says that Sarasota County Government must pay the expenses of the Special Magistrates and “provide any additional support as necessary,” he continued.
While Special Magistrates cannot be county employees, in accord with the County Code, Hoffman acknowledged, they “may be compensated at a rate to be established by resolution of the Board.”
The Special Magistrates also “may be reimbursed for such travel, mileage, and per diem expenses as may be authorized by the Board,” the County Code chapter notes, and the commissioners “shall provide clerical, administrative personnel, and legal services as may be reasonably required by Special Magistrates for proper performance of their duties,” Hoffman wrote, again referencing a section of Chapter 14.
Therefore, Hoffman recommended transferring the compensation of Special Magistrates from the Sheriff’s Office’s budget to the county’s budget, “to be in line with other special magistrate matters.”
Last year, in preparation of the current fiscal year budget, and in talks in August about the 2028 fiscal year budget, the county commissioners stressed the need not only for departments under their control to keep expenses as low as possible, but they also emphasized the need for the county’s constitutional officers — such as Hoffman and Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner — to keep their budgets as low as possible.
Those discussions came before the passage last week of the state’s property tax relief amendment to the Florida Constitution, Amendment 3 — though the board members had been expressing concern about the potential that a referendum for such a measure would be on the 2026 General Election ballot.
Already, county financial staff has estimated that the county will lose close to $47 million in revenue in the 2028 fiscal year and about $86 million altogether in the 2029 fiscal year, as the homestead exemption rises first to $150,000, in 2028, and then to $250,000 in 2029.