Our City beach front and green space is becoming more important as our urban landscape grows up around us. Parks investment makes sense. A new bayfront master plan was unveiled this week, with a hefty price tag ($100-150 million, without a new performing arts hall). It’s maintenance costs are projected at $4-6 million a year. At the same time, Bobby Jones Golf Course is in peril due to decades of neglect. Price tag for a complete restoration? About $21.6 million. And let’s not forget Lido Pavilion, arguably our most important asset, as the beach is the number one reason people visit Sarasota.

The City may surrender improvements and maintenance of Lido Pavilion to a private entity due to cost. Those private interests have estimated their improvements (which much of the public opposes as overbuilding) anywhere from $2-4 million. So how can a City that wants to offload a beach facility that will cost a few million to upgrade also be talking about hundreds of millions for a new bayfront park? What’s going on here?

To fully understand the City’s park funding issues, it’s necessary to look back to the 1970s when the cities of Longboat Key, Venice, North Port and Sarasota sued the County over dual taxation. The cities claimed they were underwriting services for County residents that City taxpayers didn’t use, like the Sheriff. The case went all the way to the Florida Supreme Court. The cities prevailed and Sarasota County was ordered to pay $8 million in restitution (the City of Sarasota got $4 million of that). In order to establish equity, the County entered into a number of interlocal agreements with the cities. One agreement required the County to contribute substantially to City of Sarasota park maintenance. That agreement expired in 2011, and the County divested itself of a serious commitment to funding City parks.

Around the same time, in 2011, Sarasota County became enamored with funding a “world class” rowing facility, one so special people would beat a path to come here. As the price tag climbed from a few million to tens of millions, the County assured residents the nonprofit that runs Benderson Rowing Park would be financially self sufficient by October 2018. That nonprofit, Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates, failed to raise funding for a promised boathouse and grandstands. Now expenses for big events are high because tents and grandstands must be rented each time. SANCA recently received $400,000 for FY 2019 from Sarasota County. Another $650,000 was earmarked by the County to lobby for another “world class” event. Seems other cities have world class facilities too.

When the County divested from investing in City parks, they took up funding the rowing facility. Facing a budget squeeze, the City is balking at funding Bobby Jones Golf Course and Lido Pavilion. But there are hundreds of millions for the Bayfront! Couldn’t we put a bit of that into Bobby Jones and Lido? Just sayin’.

Cathy Antunes is host of "The Detail" on WSRQ.