Staff reminds board that Truth in Millage notices include not-to-exceed figures, so board can lower stormwater fees before approving new budget
Figuratively armed with recent articles detailing an investigation into Sarasota County stormwater problems, plus remarks that Spencer Anderson, director of the county’s Public Works Department, made during a June 30 media briefing (see the related article in this issue), residents of Phillippi Creek returned this week to the Sarasota County Administration Center in downtown Sarasota.
Most of them made it plain that they believe in the necessity of the county’s stormwater work being handled by a new department and that they want new stormwater leadership. While a number of them mentioned Anderson, some also criticized County Administrator Jonathan Lewis.
On July 1, the commissioners took a second vote to affirm their June 3 decision to establish a Stormwater Department separate from the Public Works Department. (See that related story in this issue.) They also called for county administrative staff to advertise for a director of that department.
The following day, they voted unanimously to raise the annual stormwater assessments that county residents pay, though the final level of those assessments will be determined later, they agreed.
The option they chose would raise the base assessment from $31.41 to $36.41, with the impervious fee per square foot to increase from $16.35 to $27.08.
A slide Anderson presented them showed the annual difference for property owners would be $17.95, or a monthly uptick of $1.50.
Commissioner Tom Knight won his colleagues’ support for the highest increase of the three options that Anderson proposed. That was to ensure that they would have sufficient funds to pay for the maintenance of waterways countywide, he and the other commissioners pointed out.
As Kim Radtke, director of the Office of Financial Management, explained, they can lower the assessments after the figures have been advertised in the August Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices that the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office mails out to county property owners. However, they cannot raise the fees after they approve the not-to-exceed numbers for the TRIM notices.
Commissioner Knight stressed his view that it is likely a lower assessment level will end up winning board approval.
During the Open to the Public comment period during the July 1 budget workshop, Phillippi Creek resident David Ochs was among the speakers who referenced the articles by Michael Barfield of the Florida Trident and Derek Gilliam of the Suncoast Searchlight staff. “The truth is bound to come out; it always does,” Ochs said.
A July 1 article pointed out that the reporters’ research had found that Anderson and his staff had known since the summer of 2024 that they could not win U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) approval of an emergency permit to dredge the upper portion of Phillippi Creek, which — as residents have attested for months — is as full of sediment as the lower portion. That sediment exacerbated the effects of storm surges during the 2024 storm season, resulting in damage to hundreds of homes.
Further, a June 27 article by Barfield and Gilliam reported their findings about neglected county stormwater infrastructure, “chronic maintenance backlogs and high staff turnover,” as the July 1 report noted.
Yet, as The Sarasota News Leader reported, as late as the May 20 regular meeting of the County Commission, Anderson was reporting that staff just the previous week had submitted information to the USACE in an effort to win an emergency permit. In fact, Anderson indicated that he expected to win the emergency permit. He explained that as soon as the documentation was in hand, the first phase of the county’s portion of the Phillippi Creek clearing — from U.S. 41 to Beneva Road — would entail tacking what he has called the “high spots.”
The West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) will handle the dredging from the mouth of Phillippi Creek to a spot about 1,200 feet east of U.S. 41, as Justin McBride, executive director of that organization, long has confirmed.
On July 1, Phillippi Creek resident Ochs told the commissioners, “It’s very hard to have any confidence in any of the Sarasota County leadership.”
In regard to naming the director of the new Stormwater Department, Ochs pointed out, “Our past and present situation should clearly suggest a new stormwater manager. These are dire needs,” he stressed. “Then, with emphasis, he added, “Please hire new blood for both positions. Do not hire from within.” Hiring from within, Ochs continued, would mean putting someone in that position “who is accustomed to a reactive, inefficient, ineffective and even a neglectful culture.”
Then, referring to comments Anderson had made that morning and during a June 30 media briefing, Ochs talked of the credentials of the stormwater staff. “You very well have the expertise. You just need different leaders.”
Jacob Crabtree, another Phillippi Creek resident, told the commissioners, “I’m stillnot living in my home. … I had 32 inches of water from [Tropical Storm] Debby.” That was not from storm surge, he pointed out. “That was from conveyance of water being held up in a creek that was backed up — or as I like to refer to it: a ditch that’s unmaintained.”
He is doing his part, Crabtree continued, referencing a comment that Anderson made during the June 30 media briefing about residents needing to help themselves. “I’ve gone through the permitting process. I’ll be lifting my home. … I’m doing my part,” Crabtree said. “I’m asking that the county does theirs.”
He told the commissioners he does not believe the problem is a lack of resources within county government. “I think the problem is that we have a ship that’s rudderless.”
Having spent quite a bit of time thinking about the situation, Crabtree continued, he had asked himself whether the primary problem among staff members is arrogance or ignorance. He found himself coming back to the view that it is arrogance, he said.
“We need a maintenance plan,” Crabtree stressed.
Kristy Molyneaux, who has appeared before them numerous times in recent months, reminded the commissioners, “I flooded in all three storms [in 2024].”
Then, also referring to Anderson’s June 30 briefing, she said, “My three main takeaways” were the following:
- The residents who live on the creek should buy flood insurance.
- The residents should have paid for dredging through a program that dates back to 2001.
- “And Stormwater’s doing a great job.”
She added, “Those comments, I think, demonstrate that stormwater leadership is broken.”
She was not referring just to Anderson, she continued, but also to County Administrator Jonathan Lewis, whose responsibility it is — she stressed — to make sure the Stormwater Division staff pursues the work that needs to be done.
“I heard no accountability for mishaps [during the June 30 briefing],” Molyneaux added, as well as remarks reflecting “a lack of urgency.”
Anderson “should be bringing you solutions,’ she pointed out, not waiting for the board to tell him and his staff what to do.
Connie Neeley, a representative of Forest Lakes residents, told the commissioners that she, too, had listened to Anderson’s June 30 remarks.
Alluding to one of his comments about homeowners on Phillippi Creek, she added, “There has been a lot of mischaracterization and miscommunication. A lotof it.” Yet, the residents are not the source, Neeley continued. “It’s coming from the top.”
Her voice shaking, Neeley said, “It has come to the stakeholders, not from the stakeholders. … You don’t just have a flood problem,” she told the commissioners. “You have a trust problem.”
It appears to the residents, she continued, that county staff is “constantly trying to defend mediocrity — and mediocrity is what it is.”
She also emphasized that the initial flooding of homes happened almost a year ago. Yet, she noted, in spite of that intervening time, people still are displaced, “camping out on their parents’ kitchen table.”
“My suggestion, our suggestion,” Neeley said, “is hire someone with experience [who can] guide [us] out of this mess.”
Making sure they have the money they need
During the commission’s July 2 discussion about the financing of the new Stormwater Department, Anderson provided alternative scenarios: one including waterways maintenance; one without that work.
Commissioner Ron Cutsinger was the first to tell Anderson and Lewis, “From my perspective, of course we’re going to do this with the waterways.”
Phillippi Creek is not the only water body that needs attention, Cutsinger pointed out. South County creeks have problems, too, he added.
Commissioner Tom Knight was the first to proposed going with the highest assessment level, for the purpose of the TRIM notice advertising.
“We want to go all in with the waterways,” Knight said. “We don’t want to under-advertise,” based on the commitments the commissioners have made to the public, “and then not have the capabilities of doing [the work].”
Commissioner Teresa Mast concurred with Knight that choosing the highest option “gives us the most flexibility.”
Commissioner Mark Smith also agreed with that view, though he said he — like Knight — is hopeful that the board will be able to settle on a smaller assessment before it approves the level during its first 2026 fiscal year budget hearing, which is set for Sept. 5.
Chair Joe Neunder concurred with the highest level, as well. However, he pointed out to Lewis and Anderson, “What you’re basically asking the residents of Sarasota County to do is spend more money” to undertake the waterway maintenance.
Neunder called for what he characterized as “almost like an audited overview” of how the county’s stormwater funds have been spent, to determine whether the outlays of funds has been appropriate.
Lewis told him that the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller audits county funds.
Neunder added that he also wanted to be sure the county was not overspending when it comes to the stormwater work.
Knight ended up making the motion to approve the highest assessment level, for the TRIM notice advertising, and Mast seconded it.
Mast emphasized, “This is not a done deal …”
“This is only providing the runway and the space to go up to a certain level,” Neunder added.
At that point, Neunder reiterated his desire for an audit of the stormwater funds, using the word “internal,” meaning no outside party should be hired to handle that work.
The board members also agreed, on a unanimous vote, that Lewis will work with County Attorney Joshua Moye to review all of the county’s policies and ordinances related to stormwater. The details generated by that initiative will be provided to the commissioners, so they can discuss them in August, after they return from their annual summer break.