Sarasota Vice Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch (left) is sworn-in for her third term as City Commissioner Flo Entler (right) is sworn-in for her first, after both won the elections Tuesday by comfortable margins. | Photo by Christian Casale
Trice’s farewell, Entler’s swearing-in a jovial affair amid cloud of Amendment 3
For her first, and final, State of the City address, Sarasota Mayor Debbie Trice skipped the typical speech to play a short film at City Hall.
With voice-over from Trice, the clip played like a tourism commercial for the city. She highlighted Sarasota’s recovery from the trio of Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton that slammed the area in 2024 and pointed to a spike in tourism over the past year. Trice also outlined major infrastructure projects, such as the Lido Beach renourishment and the replacement of a critical water main underneath U.S. 41.
It was a celebration of municipal work. In a commission chamber accustomed to contentious public comment over development and parking, the jovial atmosphere saw Trice retire from public office and swear in newly minted Commissioner Flo Entler, who cruised to victory early this week alongside Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch, who has begun her third term.
“As they say: Time flies when you’re having fun,” said Trice, who was first elected to the commission in 2022 and declined to run for reelection. “It really has been fun … and exhilarating, educational, frustrating, exhausting, and challenging.”
Commissioner Kathy Kelley Ohlrich was elected by her colleagues on Friday to become Sarasota’s next mayor, a mostly ceremonial position, but she will be responsible for running board meetings.
Ahearn-Koch became the city’s vice mayor. She, along with Entler and Ohlrich, now form a majority bloc on the commission who came up in Sarasota politics through advocacy in their neighborhood associations. Ohlrich ran Ahearn-Koch’s campaigns in 2022 and 2018.
They will now be tasked with addressing the ongoing issues related to parking enforcement, a new sound ordinance, and the never-ending debate over land use and development.
And they must do it all in the face of Amendment 3, a constitutional measure passed by Florida voters Tuesday that will cut property taxes and drastically reshape the budgets for cities and counties. The commission must reckon with the $5.6 million in losses the city projects for next year.
In her remarks Friday, Ohlrich said she will try to guide the commission toward keeping in mind a shared purpose.
“In recent years, that shared purpose has been fuzzy,” the mayor said. “Now is the time to clarify it by developing a new strategic plan that guides our decision-making.”
Sarasota Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich (left) hugs outgoing-Mayor Debbie Trice during the later’s final meeting as a city commissioner Friday. | Photo by Christian Casale
Shadow of Amendment 3 hangs over the laughs and tears
In her outgoing remarks, Trice noted that within the city of Sarasota, the Amendment 3 ballot initiative did not even reach a majority of support.
“The voters in our city, most of the voters, who I am so proud of, recognized that Amendment 3 would do more harm than good,” Trice said. “Unfortunately, it’s the statewide vote that counts.”
The new constitutional amendment, which will raise the homestead property tax exemption to $250,000 by 2028, was passed with 62% support by Florida voters Tuesday.
A day after it passed, City Manager Karie Friling released a statement indicating that the city is still working on a comprehensive financial analysis of the impacts.
“Our responsibility is not simply to react to this decision, but to plan responsibly for the future,” Friling said. “We will evaluate our options carefully, engage with our City Commission in the decision-making process, and communicate transparently with our employees and the community.”
A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that the amendment would cut $12 billion from local budgets across Florida. The tax cut also translates to 123,000 jobs now at risk, according to the study.
Each commissioner addressed Amendment 3 at some point during their remarks on Friday.
“Where we are as a city, with what we’re looking to do – I think, obviously, with the passage of Amendment 3, the next several years are going to be really challenging,” Commissioner Liz Alpert said.
Commissioner Kyle Battie said the disapproval of the amendment by Sarasota voters showed “the selflessness of our residents,” but, like his colleagues, he accepted the new future and the struggles that will follow when the city’s budget season begins.
“We’ll get through it as we’ve gotten through so much,” Battie said.
Christian Casale is a reporter for Suncoast Searchlight who covers local government and politics, and previously covered local government for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Email Christian at christian@suncoastsearchlight.org.
