County staff directed to work on funding for multiple initiatives
By the end of an approximately two-hour-and-30-minute-long workshop on Feb. 11, the Sarasota County commissioners had voted unanimously to direct County Administrator Jonathan Lewis and his staff to work on plans to facilitate the board’s call for the crafting of a new community plan for Siesta Key, as the island continues to recover from the 2024 hurricane season.
The motion made by Commissioner Mark Smith, a decades-long Siesta resident, also called for the creation of a task force to help narrow priorities for the board in providing aid to the Key. Smith asked that after the task force has been organized, its members produce a list of “immediate needs” for the island. Finally, he directed county staff to identify options to pay for all of the Siesta initiatives that will be undertaken
He added that he hoped that all of those steps could be accomplished “sooner rather than later.”
Commissioner Joe Neunder seconded the motion.
Smith and Neunder are the two board members who represent Siesta Key in county government.
Smith noted that the existing Siesta Key Community Plan dates to 1999. Although some of the speakers during the Feb. 11 workshop — and some of his colleagues — referred to a new “master plan” for Siesta, Smith said he preferred the phrase “community plan,” in keeping with the characterization of the earlier document.
In expressing his support for the new community plan, Chair Ron Cutsinger said, “I think it is essential,” given the wealth of good ideas proposed to the board that day. “They need to be organized; they need to be prioritized,” he added.
Cutsinger also concurred with the proposal to bring a consultant on board to work with island leaders in developing that plan.
Lewis said he probably would bring back information to the board members “in pieces,” to speed up the actions specified in Smith’s motion. Lewis added that he felt that proposals related to the appointment of a task force could be provided to the commissioners faster than information that could guide them in launching the development of the new community plan, or details about funding sources.
Multiple speakers representing the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce did request that the county contract with an engineering firm to conduct a thorough study of the needs on the island. They estimated that that expense would be $250,000. Smith did not make that part of his motion.
Although a nonprofit organization launched by Siesta residents and business owners in the wake of the 2024 storm season was called the Siesta Key Beautification Alliance, several speakers during the Feb. 11 workshop stressed that the appearance of the Key was not as important as infrastructure improvements.
Even the spokesperson for the Alliance — Realtor Natalie Gutwein — pointed out, “In truth, the word ‘Beautification’ [in its name] can be misleading. The effort is not about cosmetic improvements and aesthetic preferences,” she continued. “It’s about infrastructure, safety, resilience and long-term planning.”
Lourdes Ramirez, president of the nonprofit Protect Siesta Key, noted, for example, that the island has aging utility pipelines that are undersized, given the growth that has taken place on Siesta over the years.
For another example, Neal Schleifer, vice president of the Siesta Key Condominium Council, talked of working with the county’s Stormwater Department staff to identify areas that need attention about which the staff had no knowledge.
Gutwein also explained that the use of “Alliance” in the name of the organization she represents makes it clear that “we are a broad coalition representing the full cross section of the Siesta Key community, including the Siesta Key Association, the Siesta Key Chamber, the Siesta Key Village Maintenance Corp., property owners, homeowners and local businesses.”
Among the other information presented during the workshop, Mark Kara, a member of the board of directors of the Siesta Key Village Maintenance Corp. (SKVMC), reported that he had been told that that organization has a fund balance of between $500,000 and $600,000. Commissioner Smith said that that county staff should check into the potential use of some of that money to help pay for work that needs to be undertaken on the island, though he was not sure that the people who pay the assessments that go into that account would approve of such a use for the money.
Commissioner Neunder indicated that also wanted to know about the prospect of tapping that fund, asking that County Administrator Lewis determine how much of the money is required to be kept as a reserve in the event that the corporation faces an unexpected, major expense that it will have to cover.
“We’ll absolutely follow up on that,” Lewis said.
Smith noted that he had served as a director of the Maintenance Corp. for about 20 years, prior to his election to the County Commission in November 2022. That organization represents the owners of property in the Siesta Key Village Improvement District, where a county beautification project was completed in 2009. The corporation oversees the maintenance of the Village. The property owners pay a county assessment each year to cover the expense of that work, including the hiring of contractors to handle garbage collection and landscaping.
Smith added that he believes it is time to eliminate the Maintenance Corp. as it exists. “If we were to spread the … taxing district to the entire island,” Smith said, “that may be a way to fund [the needs on the Key].” That also would reduce the burden on the owners of the commercial property, Smith noted. He would like to see the County Commission explore that idea, he added.
As the discussion neared its end on Feb. 11, Commissioner Neunder was the first to tell the workshop participants, “You guys are all united, and that is something that bodes very well for the future of Siesta Key in all respects.”
Referencing his 12 years as county sheriff, Commissioner Tom Knight added, “This is probably the most united I’ve seen Siesta Key.” Looking at the audience members, he said, “A lot of people didn’t get along with each other” during his tenure as sheriff, which ended in 2020.
‘A high-level roadmap’
As she had noted during a presentation last year to the county’s Tourist Development Council, Gutwein of the Beautification Alliance told the commissioners at the outset of the workshop that business owners pooled $35,000 “to commission a professional vision with a mobility and resiliency study.” The purpose of that, she continued, “was to collectively identify vulnerabilities, highlight safety and infrastructure gaps, and provide a high-level roadmap for discussion.”
(Copies of it were provided to the board members via email on Feb. 10, Rick Munro, one of the owners of Sun Garden Café, noted during his remarks.)
“The study exists to inform, not dictate the next steps,” Gutwein. emphasized.
“Before anyone discusses costs, construction or timelines, the county and the public deserve a clear, professional understanding of scope, phasing and realistic constraints,” she continued.
The goal, Gutwein pointed out, is to make Siesta Key “a best-in-class coastal community.”
She asked that the commissioners direct county staff to work with the organizations represented during the workshop.
Following her at the podium, Mason Tush, chair of the Siesta Chamber, pointed out, “Siesta Key is one of the most recognizable and visited destinations in Sarasota County, consistently ranked among the top beaches nationally and internationally.”
He pointed out that, in 2025, TripAdvisor ranked Siesta Beach No. 1 in the United States and No. 4 in the world. He had to read the latter ranking 10 times, he added, before he could believe it. “No. 4 in the world is pretty powerful.”
Because of such recognition for the beach, Tush continued, Siesta long has accounted for a significant portion of the county’s Tourist Development Tax — or, “bed tax” — revenue (see the related article in this issue), as well as sales tax revenue and employment. “It is vital that Siesta Key reflects its world-class status,” he stressed.
Yet, Tush said, “the 2024 hurricane season underscored multiple vulnerabilities” on the Key, including infrastructure problems.
Tourism slowed in the latter part of the 2024 calendar year, he continued, resulting in a drop of about 24% in Siesta’s bed tax revenue through part of the 2025 fiscal year.
“When Siesta Key is disrupted,” Tush told the board members, “the economic effects ripple across the county, affecting tourism funding, marketing capacity and the revenue streams that support essential services.”
Kara, the Siesta Key Village Maintenance Corp. board member, put it another way. He sought to join that organization’s leadership group, he said, in an effort to learn whether the Maintenance Corp. could help with the needed improvements. “It was readily apparent … that is way, far beyond any piece of maintenance. … You can only polish stuff so much.”
Infrastructure and stormwater systems called high priorities
During her presentation, Ramirez of Protect Siesta Key told the commissioners that, on Feb. 6, Protect Siesta Key sent out a survey to its members and received 143 responses. Of the seven questions, she continued, the two that drew the largest numbers of answers were “What should be the highest priority for county spending on Siesta Key?” and “Which areas of Siesta Key do you believe should receive the most county funding?”
For the first one, Ramirez said, 75% of the respondents chose infrastructure improvements; for the second, 69% selected “Stormwater and Drainage systems.”
She added, “Residents were concerned a lot about stormwater.”
Even before the 2024 storms struck, Ramirez pointed out, “We regularly experienced flooding on our major roads,” including the area of Beach Road in front of Siesta Public Beach and on the approaches to the Key from the two bridges that connect it to the mainland. “These are longstanding problems.”
When the primary roads flood, she emphasized, “Residents and visitors are less likely to travel the island, which also hurts the businesses.” She further noted, “If visitors can’t reach the beach, they’ll just go home, and we don’t know if they’ll return.”
Yet another critical need, Ramirez continued, is the elevation of the sewage lift stations on the island, “so they can be protected from floodwaters.” They need to be upgraded, as well, Ramirez said. “Some of these stations are already operating at capacity.”
County staff also needs to work with Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) on the island’s electrical grid, she pointed out. On Jan. 18, she told the board members, “About a thousand of us were without power for more than three hours.”
She joined Tush of the Siesta Chamber in recommending that electrical lines be moved underground, to make them less vulnerable to weather events.
Schleifer of the Condominium Council pointed out that that organization represents approximately 100 associations and more than 7,000 households. Thus, he said, the Council leaders speak for the largest number of residents on the island.
In the aftermath of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside in 2021, he said, condominium associations on Siesta have spent millions of dollars on their buildings to comply with state legislation that requires them to take the necessary measures to be more resilient. Yet, they have no power to improve island infrastructure, Schleifer pointed out.
That is why the county needs to lead an initiative to improve the infrastructure, he added.
Further, he showed the commissioners a number of slides depicting the flooding on the island after Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit in 2024. “Everything that was touched by the salt or brackish water is destroyed or corrodes.” The vegetation also dies, he said.
Schleifer also provided real estate transaction statistics to the board that he had collected on Feb. 8, to illustrate worries about the economic health of the Key in the future:
“Prices were straight down,” he stressed, “until December of ’25.” He added, “We all know long-time people who are leaving the Key,” instead of rebuilding.
Residents want the County Commission to take the necessary steps to mitigate risks and prevent future storm damage, Schleifer said.
Turning again to stormwater issues, Shleifer said he has learned that the county Stormwater Department staff has planned a stormwater drainage improvement study for the island. He urged the commissioners to commit to paying for the recommendations that will result from that initiative.
In conjunction with that, Schleifer continued, he believes county staff should work to ensure that Siesta Key can handle 10 to 12 inches of rainfall per hour.