Sarasota County EDC uses AI, other tools to overcome slashed funds

The Sarasota County Economic Development Corp. finds positive ways to combat budget cuts. "Although nobody ever wants to face a budget cut, we were already … building our efficiencies," the CEO says.

By Andrew Warfield
| 7:30 a.m. March 29, 2025
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From left, Sarasota County EDC's Josh Ewen, Erin Silk and board member and County Commissioner Ron Cutsinger.

Manatee-Sarasota

With the start of Sarasota County’s fiscal year 2026 budget cycle beginning with its initial workshop this week, it marks the approximate midway point of one its highest profile budget moves for the current fiscal year: the elimination of the countywide business tax.

Those revenues for decades had helped support the operations of the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County, leaving the organization under the new leadership of President and CEO Erin Silk in an approximately $200,000 budgetary hole at the beginning of its fiscal year.