At 10:14 a.m. on Sept. 8, City Auditor and Clerk Shayla Griggs began reading the title of Resolution 26R-3413 into the record. It took 45 seconds. LBK News reported that this was the only time the St. Armands parking garage assessment came up all day. The commission adopted it as part of a consent agenda by a 5-0 roll call, with no discussion.
That quiet vote is the most important parking fact on the island this fall. The four-story garage at Adams and Madison drives was supposed to be paid for by two sources: parking fees and a special assessment on nearby commercial property. One of them has worked every year since 2016, and the other never has. With the Nov. 3 election now past, the City Commission has said it will take up the Parking Division's future. That decision is really about who covers the difference.
The Bill Landing on the Circle This Month
The assessment roll covers the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2026. It reaches 71 commercial parcels on and around the Circle as non-ad valorem line items on the November tax bills. Added together, the maximum bills come to $270,692. City finance staff expect about $260,000 to actually come in, and all of it is earmarked for principal and interest on the garage bonds.
Here is how that payment compares with the rest of the garage's finances:
| Garage finances | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual debt service, scheduled through 2038 | About $1.1 million |
| Merchant assessment, FY2026-27 expected collections | About $260,000 |
| Average garage revenue, 2019 to 2025 | About $212,000 |
| Average yearly shortfall | About $628,000 |
| Principal still owed | At least $12.1 million |
A Suncoast Searchlight investigation published by Sarasota Magazine found that the Parking Division owes the city's general fund more than $1.64 million, and about 91 percent of that debt is tied to the St. Armands Paid Parking Fund. The city's adopted FY2027 budget shows the St. Armands Paid Parking Area fund with $2,881,200 in revenue against $2,809,523 in spending this year. The July proposed plan still listed a $1,499,612 general fund advance for the St. Armands parking and debt-service funds, to be paid back from future parking fees.
How a Storefront's Share Gets Set
The formula was fixed in 2016 and has been carried forward every year since. It has two tiers.
- Proximity. Each parcel gets an "equivalent distance unit" based on how close it is to the garage. A full unit costs $2,695, and the weighting drops to 0.67, 0.50, 0.40, 0.33 and 0.29 as storefronts get farther away.
- Square footage. Restaurant space is billed at 98 cents per square foot. Retail, office and gallery space is billed at roughly 35 cents.
The second tier decides who carries the load. Restaurant space is only 26 percent of the assessed square footage in the district, 88,981 of 337,562 square feet, yet it produces about half of the square-footage tier: roughly $87,000 of $174,000. The largest single bill on the roll belongs to the Columbia Restaurant at 411 St. Armands Circle, with a maximum of $21,245.73 for 17,547 square feet of restaurant space. The ten largest bills together account for $99,629, and the median parcel pays $2,462.
The restaurants that pay the most have defended the arrangement. Casey Gonzmart Jr., a fifth-generation member of the Columbia's family, told Suncoast Searchlight that "it's been a great return on our investment." Scott Macdonald, whose family has run Crab & Fin since 1978, told the same reporters that the garage has been "very beneficial" during the height of season, especially for employees. Macdonald is now president of the St. Armands Circle Association. LBK News reports he has said publicly that his own assessment runs about $12,000 a year.
The Projection the Bonds Relied On
The 2019 garage cost $15.6 million and was projected to bring in $751,000 a year in hourly fees. Even in its best years, 2023 and 2024, revenue reached just over half of that. Suncoast Searchlight also found a Kimley-Horn presentation to the commission, made the year before approval, which showed that the garage would still lose about $9 million over a decade even if it hit $751,000 a year.
Planning Director Steve Cover told the outlet that COVID-19 in 2020 and the 2024 hurricanes cut into parking revenue and forced the city to use general fund transfers to cover the bond. The summer slowdown is part of the same story. On slow off-season days, rows of the 484 spaces sit empty.
That shortfall connects St. Armands to the meter fight downtown. In May, the commission tried to close the gap by extending paid hours under Ordinance 26-5590. After merchants pushed back, those hours were suspended. They remain suspended following the Aug. 31 workshop. The Sarasota Magazine report names the St. Armands garage as a key reason the Parking Division cannot pay for itself.
What the Commission Has on the Table
At the workshop, Cover laid out the options. Your Observer reported them as possibilities, not decisions:
- A 50-cent increase in parking rates across the board
- A special taxing district for businesses and commercial property owners, at roughly $6,000 each per year
- Paying from the general fund, which would mean raising the citywide millage by 0.5111 to 3.7841 mills, about $102 a year per $200,000 of taxable value
- A mix of these, with some members of the public also suggesting the city privatize its parking decks
Commissioner Liz Alpert favored the 50-cent increase, along with short-term loans for elevator replacement and optional validation by businesses. "Being financially sustainable doesn't mean maximizing parking revenue," she said, according to Your Observer.
City Manager Karie Friling recommended waiting until after the election because of Amendment 3. It needed 60 percent approval and would raise the homestead exemption on local property taxes from $50,000 to $150,000 in fiscal year 2028 and to $250,000 in fiscal year 2029. The city estimated the change would cost it $5 million a year in revenue. Of all the options, the general fund route depends most directly on how much property tax revenue the city keeps. That explains why the parking question waited for the ballot. The city's Sept. 1 update gave no specific date for the post-election discussion.
Oct. 1, 2027, the Next Real Deadline
According to LBK News, the garage bonds become callable on Oct. 1, 2027. One downtown business owner has proposed using that date to sell the garage outright and retire the debt. A commission candidate responded that a buyer looking for a normal return would need the garage to gross nearly $2 million a year to justify a $12 million price, roughly ten times what it earns.
Chris Goglia, president of the St. Armands Residents Association, has made the strongest defense of the structure. He points to it as the high ground that sheltered vehicles during Helene, LBK News reported. The bond also limits what can be done with the spaces. In July, consultants for the Shore redevelopment at 24 and 28 N. Boulevard of the Presidents asked about buying eight spaces inside the garage. They were told a purchase "is not allowed and would be in violation of the parking bond."
Parking for the First Busy Weekends
Whatever the commission decides, the rules for the start of season are already in place. The city lists the St. Armands garage at 57 N. Adams Drive at $2 for the first two hours and $1 for each additional hour. The first hour is free only if you enter your license plate. On-street parking elsewhere is $1.50 an hour. The garages are gateless, so drivers have 15 minutes after entering to pay through Passport, ParkMobile or a pay station. Under the suspended schedule, on-street paid parking is enforced from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Garages are enforced from 7 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Overtime fines are $30 and safety violations are $50. The city also offers a St. Armands residential permit for residents who live within 1,000 feet of the permitted location.
The officers checking those plates are also changing departments. Your Observer reported on Oct. 3 that Friling had decided to place the entire Parking Division, including facility maintenance, under Sarasota Police Department management, with the transition set for the end of October.
The garage's first big test of the season comes over the next few weekends, according to the St. Armands Circle Association:
- Ferraris on the Circle: Saturday, Nov. 7, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- 37th Annual St. Armands Circle Art Festival: Nov. 14 and 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with 200 artists and free admission
- Holiday Night of Lights: Dec. 4, 5:30 to 8 p.m., the 48th annual event
- Porsches in the Park: Dec. 12, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This post is general information about public assessments and city budget options. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, so if you own property on the roll, please confirm how this applies to you with your tax professional.
If you own on or near the Circle and want to know how the garage decision could affect the way your property is valued or marketed this season, Janette and John Schafer are glad to walk through it with you. Tell us your story.
