Neunder wins support of majority of board members in calling for county staff to identify up to $5 million in cuts in current fiscal year budget
During his report to his colleagues as part of their regular meeting on Jan. 13, Commissioner Tom Knight brought up an issue that he initially aired early on after his November 2024 election to the board: putting a hold on county construction projects in an effort to save expenses.
In conjunction with that discussion, Commissioner Joe Neunder was the first to reference a December 2025 letter that the board members had received from the Argus Foundation in Sarasota County, whose executive director is former county Commissioner Christine Robinson of Venice.
In that letter, Robinson noted the organization’s “significant concerns” about the county’s 2026 budget, adding, with emphasis, “We recommend immediate cuts of at least $5 million” to that budget. She added, “While we are nearly one quarter into the budget year, delaying action will only compound problems for FY 26-27.”
The commissioners that day ended up voting unanimously to direct County Administrator Jonathan Lewis to provide them details about the four planned county projects that have not reached the construction stage, including the timelines for those initiatives to be completed, their costs, any debt that would have to be issued for them and any recurring General Fund expenses for their operations.
The General Fund is made up largely of the property tax revenue the county receives each year. That fund covers the expenses of county departments that generate insufficient revenue on their own to support their work. It also pays for operations of most of the offices of the county’s constitutional officers, including the sheriff.
On a separate motion by Neunder, Lewis is to provide the board options, by the time of its Feb. 26 budget workshop — which will include the county’s constitutional officers — for the potential of saving of $5 million from the General Fund this fiscal year.
“That might be a little unrealistic,” Neunder told his colleagues, in regard to taking that step, “but I don’t think it’s unrealistic to go ahead and have the academic exercise, to ask our county administrator where we can … cut in this year’s budget cycle.”
During his Jan. 13 report to his colleagues, Knight pointed out that a focus on the county’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) is part of their 2026 Strategic Plan, adding, “There’s no perfect time to have the conversation [about it].”
He then made a motion to pause CIP projects “that are not under construction” until after the conclusion of the 2026 session of the Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of the state’s budget bill for the 2027 fiscal year. (Each state fiscal year begins on July 1; the county’s year begins on Oct. 1.)
Knight made it clear that he did not want to ask staff members to halt design work for initiatives that have won board approval.
Then he pointed out, “These CIP [projects] will be creating extra operational costs … This [pause on construction], to me, would ensure that we are not going to be issuing any debt [or] start turning dirt until we know what the legislative body is going to do …”
Commissioner Neunder seconded the motion.
“The buildings are needed,” Knight said, but he cited “the fear of the unknown,” in regard to state action that could reduce the county’s revenue in coming years.
With Gov. DeSantis continuing to push for property tax relief for Florida homeowners, and work already having taken place on that issue in the Legislature, local government leaders are worried about one or more referenda being placed on the November General Election ballot.
Property tax revenue is the primary source for local governments to use in paying for services and capital projects.
The pause, Knight stressed, “protects us from issuing debt if the worst-case scenario does happen. … At the end of the day,” he continued, “I don’t want to have any regrets, when we could have done something but we didn’t [and] wished we would have.”
“I’m not sure that that means,” Chair Ron Cutsinger said of Knight’s motion. What projects would be held up, Cutsinger asked. How would staff be affected, he added. “To me, there are a lot of unknowns …”
Neunder, though, said he agreed with Knight’s position. “I don’t think it’s any secret what the Legislature could be contemplating … through [this] session.”
As he understood it, Neunder continued, the chair of the Legislature’s Property Tax Reform Committee was in Sarasota the previous week, “speaking directly to the specific subject. I think it is prudent [to] go ahead, take a pause … and really look at our CIP list …”
“It’s going to be very difficult conversations,” Neunder continued, if property taxes are cut. The board members did lower the county millage rate for the 2025 fiscal year, he pointed out, to try to help the county’s taxpayers. “And now here we are in 2026 with our Florida Legislature currently in session, not necessarily knowing” what that body will end up doing.
Again, Neunder said he agreed with Commissioner Knight. “This is a prudent, a very fiscally wise, step …”
County Attorney Joshua Moye reminded the commissioners that their Jan. 13 agenda did not include any item related to cutting CIP projects. Therefore, he advised them, if they are interested in taking that step, they should direct staff to prepare a list for them to consider at their next meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 27.
County Administrator Lewis noted that he has provided memos to the commissioners over the past year about the status of CIP projects. “I think there’s only four of them [approved] that are not in actual construction,” he continued, assuming that the board members are not including transportation or stormwater initiatives as part of their focus.
The four are the Longboat Key Library, the improvements planned at Wellfield Park in Venice, the Indoor Sports Complex they have discussed for Nathan Benderson Park and the expansion of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office complex on Cattleridge Boulevard in Sarasota, Lewis said.
He could schedule their CIP discussion as part of his report for their Jan. 27 meeting, he added. “You all can have whatever policy discussion you need to have.”
However, Lewis pointed out, he would need for them to vote to provide him that direction.
Commissioner Mark Smith said that, as he understood Knight’s suggestion, it would apply to projects “that are in preliminary design or schematic design … or maybe even [in the] construction drawings [phase].” Staff would need to review the contracts, Smith continued, including the contracts with consultants who have been hired to work on specific initiatives.
Knight pointed out that he was sheriff during the Great Recession. “I certainly don’t want to see libraries start to be shut down,” or parks, he said. It was difficult for the commissioners on the board then to deal with the loss in property tax revenue, he added.
Again, Knight stressed the fact that, with the completion of CIP projects come extra county expenses related to operating them. “We want to keep what we have and make sure we have the financial ability to keep those things moving,” he told his colleagues.
Chair Cutsinger then told his colleagues, “I’m certainly not on the same page on this at all. We’ve got CIP projects that are underway.” He expressed concern that the county could end up paying more by pausing initiatives, depending on various factors related to their status, including consultants’ fees.
“At the very least,” Cutsinger stressed, staff needs to provide the board members a list of projects, including all the details about the potential impacts of pausing them.
“I kind of agree with that,” Neunder acknowledged.
Cutsinger asked Knight whether he would be willing to modify his motion.
Knight proceeded to take that step, asking that, by their Jan. 27 meeting, Lewis give the commissioners comprehensive information about the four projects that have not reached the construction stage.
Lewis did note that some projects — such as the Sheriff’s Office headquarters expansion — are paid for more with impact fees, instead of General Fund revenue. However, Lewis acknowledged that Knight was interested in the extent of operational expenses coming out of the General Fund.
Neunder seconded the revised motion; the vote was 5-0 for it.
Trying to pull together $5 million in cuts for this budget year
When Neunder brought up the Argus Foundation letter, he reminded his colleagues that four of the five constitutional officers in the county get their final budget approval each year from state departments, meaning the commissioners ultimately have no control over their spending.
The only one of them whose budget the board does control is the sheriff, and his budgets typically represent the largest single expense for the General Fund each year.
Neunder said he would like for Lewis to look at potential cuts up to $5 million. “This is the county board doing what we have to do for fiscal responsibility and budget,” Neunder stressed.
Commissioner Smith seconded the motion.
In a one-on-one discussion with Lewis, Smith said he had asked Lewis what services the board would be able to cut, if property tax reform wins citizens’ approval in November. “I think it’s a good idea to have the discussion and see how painful it’s all going to be.”
Lewis noted the direction the board already had provided in regard to the 2027 fiscal year budget — holding the General Fund increase to 1.6% across-the-board, including the spending of the constitutional officers. He already has been working on the assumption, he continued, that the county departments have to comply with that plan, noting that will be one major aspect of the first county budget workshop for the 2027 fiscal year.
The workshop, at Commissioner Teresa Mast’s request on Jan. 13, has been pushed back from Feb. 19 to Feb. 26.
Lewis also told the board members, “The new state revenue estimates are about to come out,” referring to property value changes that state staff calculates periodically for the next few fiscal years. Lewis indicated that those would be released prior to the Feb. 26 budget workshop.
During the discussion, Chair Cutsinger stressed, “We went through eight months of very thoughtful, careful budgeting” for the current fiscal year. The board decided in August 2025, he continued, that to eliminate shortfalls that staff had estimated for the General Fund budget for the fiscal years of 2028 through 2030, the General Fund expenses could not rise more than 1.6% for FY 2027 and then 3.8% for the 2028 and 2029 fiscal years. “What we’ve got to deal with,” he said, “is that the Legislature is going to do something.”
Yet, to cut $5 million out of the current expenses, Cutsinger added, is “not good budgeting.”
Commissioner Knight acknowledged that “to claw [$5 million] back [this fiscal year is] hard.” Nonetheless, he added, “I think without creating a lot of extra work on the staff,” the board members could discuss options during the Feb. 26 budget workshop, in regard to the resulting effects on county levels of service to the public.
Neunder also indicated that he expects Lewis, in working with staff, will find some potential cuts. “He’s very creative; he’s very good with numbers.”
Neunder’s motion regarding the consideration of $5 million in cuts passed 3-2, with Cutsinger and Commissioner Mast voting against it.