Florida officials have stalled plans to buy out U.S. Sugar Corp. in an effort to revive Everglades restoration efforts, calling the proposed $1.75 billion purchase bid risky and complex.

Regional water managers yesterday said they would not meet a November deadline to close the deal, adding that the proposal was fraught with hundreds of millions of dollars in potential hidden costs for taxpayers.

"Our absolute obligation is to protect the citizens of the state in this transaction," said Michael Collins, a member of the South Florida Water Management District's governing board. "Certainly, we need to be given enough time to do the job."

The district's chief negotiators and U.S. Sugar executives insist that they are making progress toward the deal, which would be the largest conservation land purchase in state history.

But a daylong meeting of regional water managers yesterday indicated the purchase is not shaping up to be the slam dunk it appeared to be when Gov. Charlie Crist (R) first announced the plan in June. An initial contract with the sugar company could be crafted by the end of the year, but final approval would not come until at least early 2009 (Curtis Morgan, Miami Herald, Sept. 11). -- RB