Founding CEO of Bay Park Conservancy to return to board later this year for final decision
With continuing budget concerns related to the potential that the Florida Legislature will place a property tax referendum on the November General Election ballot, the Sarasota County Commission has voted unanimously to allocate money just for the 2027 fiscal year to help pay for Phase 3 of The Bay Park in downtown Sarasota.
The amount, as projected by county staff, is $282,875. That would represent the debt service on a $16-million bond that park proponents hope the City of Sarasota will agree to issue later this year.
During an update on the project presented on May 18 to the Sarasota City Commission, A.G. Lafley — the “now the 10-year volunteer leader” of the effort to construct the park on the City of Sarasota’s 53 bayfront acres, as he pointed out to the County Commission on April 21 — acknowledged that a final City Commission decision on the bonds is tied to county support.
Lafley had asked that the County Commission on Apri 21 to commit to its half of the full debt service for the bonds, which would enable the Bay Park Conservancy to complete The Bay Park’s amenities in 2029.
The Conservancy manages the park and raises private funding for improvements to the site.
A slide that Lafley and the Conservancy’s chief operating officer, Diana Shaheen, presented to the City Commission on May 18 laid out the following timeline to enable the Conservancy to complete all of the work by 2029. (See the related article in this issue.):
In October 2025, after Lafley provided the county commissioners an update on the park plans, they told him they wanted to wait at least until April of this year before they committed to funding for Phase 3. However, the board members did agree unanimously at that time to Lafley’s request for the use of $1 million in county revenue, out of a trust fund set up for the park, to pay for work that was necessary before the Phase 3 bonds could be issued. The Sarasota City Commission had approved that expenditure, too, as long as the county board concurred on the action.
On April 21, even before Lafley began his latest presentation to the County Commission, Steve Botelho, the deputy county administrator and chief financial management officer for the county, had explained that, with the county board’s having approved Phase 2 of the park, the debt service for the bonds for that work is $1,536,025 for this fiscal year.
The money the city and county are using for park facilities derives from what is called a tax-increment financing district (TIF), which the local governments established through an interlocal agreement in late 2020. The base year for the district, which encompasses parcels that surround the park — including the Quay Sarasota project — is 2019. Every year that the value of property in the park increases, the county and city finance departments apply a specified tax rate to the increase, to set aside the funds for the park. A slide that Botelho showed the commissioners on April 21 said that, beyond the 2022 fiscal year, all out-year payments were based on the county’s millage rate of 3.044 mills. One mill represents $1,000 of the value of a parcel.
The TIF was set up to expire after the 2049 fiscal year.
Further, as Botelho has noted in the past, the county keeps its TIF revenue in the General Fund, along with all its other property tax revenue, until the County Commission has approved expenditures for park initiatives.
If the city were to issue the $16 million in bonds for Phase 3, Botelho continued on April 21, the debt service that the county would pay for those bonds would be approximately $560,000 per year through the 2049 fiscal year. The total through FY 2049 would be $12,685,375, a slide showed.
Thus, Botelho added, those payments would be expected to reduce the amount in the county’s additional reserve fund — beyond the 75-Day Disaster Reserve and the Economic Uncertainty Reserve, the latter of which was created up to hold sufficient funds to represent 30 to 60 days of county operations. The figure would fall from $21 million, as projected in late March for the 2030 fiscal year, to $19 million.
The numbers are based on the county’s being able to hold the General Fund’s increased expenses to a 1.6% uptick in FY 2027 and no more than 3.6% from FY 2028 through FY 2030.
Further, the money in that additional reserve would fall from an expected $55 million in FY 2031 to $52 million, Botelho’s slide noted — again, with the above limitations on growth in the General Fund budget through FY 2031.
‘Our checkbook is tight right now’
“This is a really tough ask,” Commissioner Teresa Mast told Lafley after his April 21 presentation. “We’re asking all of our partners to really sharpen their pencils,” she added, referring to the worries about property tax revenue.
The park itself, Mast stressed, is “absolutely incredible. … I know that the community loves it.”
Commissioner Tom Knight concurred with Mast: “Our checkbook is tight right now.”
Nonetheless, Knight told Lafley that he understands “you raise more money” when potential philanthropists see the City and County commissions’ support for new amenities.
Knight also pointed out of the park, “It has too many benefits with it to stop. … It’s just such a rehabilitated area.” Knight was referring to the environmental initiatives that the Bay Park Conservancy has pursued to clean up the stormwater that flows from the site into Sarasota Bay and to make the area more resilient to storms.
“I want to support it,” Knight said of the Phase 3 plan.
Commissioner Mark Smith added, “I’m a big supporter of the park.” While the impact of the Phase 3 debt service would have an impact on the county’s budget, he continued, “I believe it’s doable. … It’s an investment in a park, but there are so many other [aspects of the proposal].”
“Quite honestly,” Smith continued, noting the status of Sarasota Bay, “I haven’t seen the water that clear in quite some time,” though he acknowledged that Hurricane Milton’s opening of Midnight Pass on south Siesta Key in October 2024 had contributed to the improved water quality, as well.
“This checks all the boxes to me,” Chair Ron Cutsinger said. “Phase 3 is going to deal with a lot of additional stormwater [issues].” Moreover, Cutsinger pointed out, “Water access — I mean, that’s been a priority for us.”
Yet, he continued, “The issue I have” relates to any state action that might reduce the county’s property tax revenue. If a referendum ends up being placed on the November General Election ballot, and it passes, Cutsinger said, “We’re going to be scrambling to figure out how we’re going to deal with that.”
He did note that the TIF District for The Bay Park “has so far out-performed the original … projection.”
“We hoped the [district] would pay for itself,” Cutsinger added, referring to a general increase in property tax revenue because of the new development surrounding the park.
‘”This is a heartwarming project, certainly,” Commissioner Joe Neunder pointed out. Noting Cutsinger’s remarks, Neunder added that he believes “at some point, the TIF [District] will pay for itself.”
He would be happy to support Phase 3, Neunder told Lafley, with the caveat that the county’s stance might have to change if the property tax revenue situation proves to a problem, thanks to the Legislature.
Neunder suggested holding off on a decision about supporting Phase 3 until after the commissioners know what will happen in regard to the state issue.
“I think we’re all saying the same thing,” Mast pointed out. Perhaps the best option, she suggested, would be to reconsider the full Phase 3 request after the Legislature has taken its action on property taxes.
Then Commissioner Knight proposed that the board members go ahead and agree to the debt service for the 2027 fiscal year. “This is a park that serves everybody,” he emphasized. “I put humans before politics. Tallahassee’s very political.”
Chair Cutsinger asked Lafley how he would feel about the board’s delaying a decision on full funding for Phase 3 for three months, given the expectation that the Legislature will have acted within that timeframe.
Lafley initially responded by stressing how much more money the TIF District is expected to produce beyond the original projection in 2020. Through the 2049 fiscal year, Deputy County Administrator Botelho’s slides showed, the county’s portion of the TIF revenue is estimated to add up to $187,176,687.
Last year, Lafley pointed out, the total for the city and county was put at $378 million.
In November 2020, when the TIF agreement won city and county approval, the total estimated revenue it would raise over 30 years was estimated to be $189.4 million.
Moreover, Lafley said, “There’s a lot of development going on at the Quay and in the Rosemary District, and that’s the biggest driver of these TIF revenues.”
He added, “I think it’s more probable than improbable that the available TIF revenue is going to increase.”
Lafley also noted that he and the other leaders of the Conservancy estimated 10 years ago that the expense per acre to create the park would be between $3 million and $4 million, for a total cost of $150 million to $200 million. “We’re hanging in on that estimate,” Lafley said.
Ninety-eight percent of the funding for Phase 1 of the park came from private sources, Lafley had told the commissioners earlier during his presentation.
Yet another concern, he said, is that he did not want a delayed decision to jeopardize the processing of the permits the park needs from agencies to pursue certain improvements.
Although Lafley at one point suggested that the commissioners could go ahead and agree to the full debt service for Phase 3, he finally asked them to approve just the debt service for the 2027 fiscal year, given the concern about the state property tax issue. With that vote, Lafley said, “We could keep momentum going.”
Commissioner Knight ended up making the motion to that effect, and Commissioner Smith seconded it, and it passed unanimously.