Sarasota Passes 21-22 Budget, Eliminates Parks & Rec Special Fund

SARASOTA, FL — Sarasota city commissioners unanimously approved a $233 million budget at their Tuesday meeting, a small decrease from the prior fiscal year. Commissioners also voted 3-2 to dissolve the city’s Parks and Recreation District, a revenue fund that funds the parks and recreation department.

The full budget of $233,280,364 for fiscal year 2021-22 comes in just under last year’s adopted budget of $234,412,773, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The new budget includes $78.2 million in the general fund, and $38.5 million for the police department. Sarasota police received a 3% salary increase, according to city documents. Non-union city employees are set to receive either a 1.5% general wage increase, or an approximately 3% increase, a city spokesperson told the Herald-Tribune.

The Commission also eliminated the Parks and Recreation district fund, meaning that the parks will now be funded by the general fund and other revenue sources. The district has actually been partially funded by the general fund for the past two years, since the commission never agreed on a property tax rate to fund it.

Read the full Herald-Tribune report here.