In a good year, insurers still fail

Insurers on shaky ground

102 of the 210 property insurers operating in Florida have reported underwriting losses, according to Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty.

The fact that these insolvencies and underwriting losses occurred in a year in which a hurricane has not struck Florida seriously undermines confidence in the ability of private insurers operating in this state to financially weather a stormy future.

Sarasotan Bill Griffin, his family and businesses have been involved in one failed company...

Citizens and a state-run reinsurance fund remain undercapitalized. The exodus from Florida of brand-name national firms and the underwriting losses of nearly half the property insurers in the state suggest the private sector isn't going to provide adequate coverage unless conditions change.

Insurance is complex and, in Florida, there is no simple way to meet the challenges of making coverage affordable while keeping companies solvent.

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Music Programs Cut

The three-week June music festival will be on hiatus in 2010 "as we re-evaluate its mission, format and structure in light of the current economy," Orchestra Board Chairman Virginia Toulmin said in a statement.

The 45-year-old Sarasota Music Festival has temporarily fallen victim to the economy as its parent organization, the Sarasota Orchestra, looks for ways to cut costs while protecting its core programming and local educational outreach.

The suspension of the festival is one of several cost-cutting measures announced Monday by the orchestra. More...

Sarasota Orchestra cuts popular programs, salaries to stay afloat

With the economy squeezing grants, government funding and corporate and individual gifts, the orchestra had to rely on almost half of its emergency reserves — a total of $515,000 — just to get through last season, McKenna said. This has been the first time during his nearly nine years with the organization that he’s had to tap into reserves.

Cascading impacts

In affluent Naples:

More hungry students could be starting school Monday

In Sarasota:

Sarasota County schools cut $40 million from this year's budget. In the past two years Manatee has cut $43 million in spending. Fewer data and reading coaches, assistant principals and media specialists means more work for teachers and less help for students. link

Breaking a condominium death spiral

Few of the Southwest Florida’s condominiums are untouched by the housing bust, with experts claiming anywhere from a single unit to 40 percent of any given building’s units abandoned, in foreclosure or having residents who can no longer afford to pay their association dues.

In Osceola:

Fire Rescue station and library hours could be among county budget cuts

Regional bank failures reflect underlying problems

Bank failures heavy in region

Eight Florida banks have failed in the past 13 months. Four of them were community banks based in Sarasota or Manatee counties.

Uptick in home sales in Sarasota

Housing sales up sharply

By Tom Bayles & Aaron Kessler

Published: Saturday, August 22, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, August 21, 2009 at 9:48 p.m.

Home sales in the Sarasota-Bradenton market rose 30 percent during July as buyers scurried to lock in a federal tax credit before it expires in November.

Related Links:

• Homes prices and sales | Graphics
• Condo prices and sales | Graphics

July's sales performance was the biggest percentage point move in the region since June 2004. Nationally, sales spiked by the biggest amount in a decade.

At a median of $179,500, prices in the Sarasota-Bradenton market were down 22 percent from a year ago, but continued to show stability, rising 10 percent from June, data released Friday by the Florida Association of Realtors showed.

Residential taxes going up in area

Some homeowners in for unpleasant surprise

Already hit by the biggest drop in property values in the state's history, many full-time residents will get another dose of bad news this week: Their property tax bills are actually going up, some significantly.

...the implosion of the housing market and the lingering recession have meant sagging revenues for local governments, many of which have responded by raising property taxes.

That, combined with an exemption designed to ease the burden on full-time residents, is turning Florida's much-criticized tax system on its head, with much of the load shifting back to those year-round residents.

The shift will become apparent this week as tax bills for 647,000 parcels in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties begin arriving in the mail. More...

Mapping the fallout

A list of the biggest increases in foreclosure rates across Florida reads like a map of the fallout from the unbridled real estate boom.

Foreclosures spiked 788 percent during the last three years in the 20th Judicial Circuit, home to Port Charlotte, Fort Myers and Cape Coral. In the 12th Circuit -- Bradenton, Sarasota, North Port, Venice and Arcadia -- filings rose 631 percent from 2006 to 2008.

Statewide, foreclosures rose nearly 400 percent, with 623,570 properties receiving unwelcome attention from banks and mortgage lenders. Through May, another 175,612 properties entered the pipeline, according to a study prepared by a task force advising the Florida Supreme Court about how the judicial system can deal with the worst foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression.

Foreclosure fallout hangs heaviest here

Teeth, please

Slow-to-no mortgage fixes

Banks and other mortgage lenders have been slow so far to modify struggling homeowners' loans, but they now face a deadline. Congress and the White House should hold them strictly to it.

Obama administration officials recently gave the lenders until November to record 500,000 mortgage loan modifications under a voluntary federal program designed to avoid foreclosures.

So far, the results of the federal program, called Making Home Affordable, are not encouraging. A report issued Tuesday by the Treasury Department showed that only 9 percent of the 2.7 million delinquent borrowers eligible for loan modifications have received help. Those homeowners have missed at least two mortgage payments.

Meanwhile, the number of foreclosures continues to rise. More...

East Coast Squeeze

Rising debt, sheriff's costs squeeze Palm Beach County budget

Palm Beach County's property tax revenue has more than doubled in the past decade.

But despite the windfall, the county faces its tightest budget year in ages. It's proposing double-digit tax rate increases and preparing to lay off employees, slash bus service and leave some beaches without lifeguards.

"There are certain level of services that the county residents have come to expect," [Sheriff] Bradshaw said. "Those have continually gotten more expensive over the years." More...

To ease the pain, county commissioners last month tentatively signed off on a 14.9 percent rise in the countywide property tax rate.

Ballfields, Libraries and Siesta Key Beachfront Condos

States' money woes roll into U.S. neighborhoods

MIAMI, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Parks, ball fields and libraries are prime targets for local-government budget cutters in Florida, one of the dozens of U.S. states where fiscal crises playing out in state capitals are now rattling neighborhoods.

Hyatt opens Siesta resort

SIESTA KEY - The Carlyle Group has opened its $100 million Hyatt Siesta Key Beach, billed as the first "purpose-built luxury fractional beachfront residences in the Sarasota area."

Opening at a time when housing of all shapes and sizes is struggling, Carlyle has dropped the prices at the resort to a starting price of $135,700 for a share of one-sixteenth (three weeks).

The Hyatt property initially began selling six-week segments last year ranging from $250,000 to $750,000.

Rising tide sinks homeowners

Survey: 'Underwater' Mortgages To Hit 48 Percent

A new study indicates that by 2011 nearly half of American homeowners will have a house worth less than what they owe on the mortgage. When more is owed, than what the house is worth, it's called being under water. One-fourth of U.S. homeowners are estimated to be under water on their mortgages already. NPR