Sarasota will not take over Ted Sperling Park at South Lido from the county.

Jerry Fogle, the city's parks and recreation director, told commissioners the takeover would cost $663,921 in startup expenses and about $1.7 million a year to operate, according to a cost analysis first reported by LBK News. The first-year total would be $2.26 million. The city also declined to absorb Nora Patterson Bay Island Park at the foot of the Siesta Drive bridge.

The rejection caps months of back-and-forth over the roughly 152-acre park on the southern tip of Lido Key. The Sarasota County Commission added the transfer to its 2026 Strategic Plan on Jan. 13, joint meeting agenda materials show. The city sent a memo in March recommending against the move, but the idea resurfaced at a May 18 City Commission meeting before staff made the refusal official.

The formal cost analysis was presented at a Sept. 18 joint meeting of the City Commission and County Commission at the county's administration center on Apex Road.

Takeover would cost triple the county's budget

Fogle's memo broke down the $663,921 startup tab: personal watercraft and a dock for them, police patrol vehicles, trucks, a John Deere Gator, a Toro utility vehicle, tools and other equipment. Annual operating costs would run about $1.68 million in the second year and $1.72 million in the third year.

The county, by comparison, spent between $493,365 and $603,591 a year running the park from fiscal 2022 through fiscal 2025, according to the joint meeting agenda. Its Commercial Recreation and Tour Operator Program at the nature park has generated roughly $330,000 a year in revenue over the past five years, though that figure has declined from $412,466 in 2022 to $253,224 in 2025.

City Manager Karie Friling told Your Observer the city is under a hiring freeze for general-fund positions. She said many roles are being held open until the effects of a Nov. 3 vote on Amendment 3 are known. City staff members have estimated the amendment could cost Sarasota $5.5 million to $5.6 million a year in property tax revenue by fiscal 2029, the equivalent of 37 police officers.

Fogle wrote in his memo that staff could not recommend taking on the park given current budget constraints and the city's ongoing recovery from recent storms.

County-owned park strains city police resources

Ted Sperling Park sits on county land inside city limits, which means the county has no police force to patrol it. Enforcement falls to the Sarasota Police Department, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

David Rayner, a former Orchid Beach resident, told the City Commission in May that the park logged more than 360 substantive police complaints in 2022 and 2023. County staff ranked Ted Sperling first among 16 problem parks, a fact Mayor Debbie Trice noted twice during that May discussion, according to LBK News.

The Police Department's Marine Unit has issued 17 citations at South Lido in 2026, most for careless operation. County Commissioner Tom Knight has said the personal watercraft rental operators causing problems are largely from the Orlando area.

In June 2025, Luis Guevara, 19, a Baltimore Orioles minor league player, was killed in a head-on personal watercraft collision off South Lido Beach.

Boating limits stall as 2028 deadline looms

The county has tried three times to get the state wildlife agency to approve speed restrictions in the waters off the park. An idle-speed, no-wake ordinance adopted in November 2025 cannot be enforced without the agency's approval. The agency rejected applications in May and June 2026.

On Sept. 22, the County Commission directed staff to apply instead for a slow-speed, minimum-wake zone, Your Observer reported. Commissioner Mark Smith, whose district includes Lido Key, said at that meeting: "I believe that if there's a chance we can at least get a slower speed there, that would be of help to the area."

Knight expressed concern that "minimum wake" could be too subjective for enforcement.

The current interlocal agreement governing shared oversight of Lido and North Lido beaches expires Sept. 30, 2028. Shawn Yeager, the county's parks director, said the city has declined the transfer "for now," signaling the question is not permanently settled.

No timeline has been set for the state wildlife agency to review the county's latest boating-restriction request.