LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

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$876 Million: The Largest Fiscal Expansion in the County's Modern Record

$876 million in new spending and debt since Neunder and Smith took office — and both commissioners voted for every record budget and every bond. It is all in the county's own audited books.

When Dr. Joe Neunder and Mark Smith ran for the Sarasota County Commission in 2022, they promised voters fiscal responsibility and small government. The audited record shows the opposite — and there are nearly 200,000 county financial records to prove it. Since these two commissioners took office, Sarasota County has run up the largest fiscal expansion in its modern record. Every three-year window in the county's audited Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports back to FY2005 was tested; nothing in the examined series resembles what happened between FY2022 and FY2025.

The Numbers

Here is what Neunder and Smith voted for. Annual spending rose from $823 million to $1.22 billion — up 48% VERIFIEDⓘDerivation. Bonded debt rose from $630 million to $1.11 billion — up 76% VERIFIEDⓘDerivation, while population grew just 7.8%.¹ Combined, that is $876 million in new spending and debtadded in three years: spending grew roughly six times faster than population, bonded debt nearly ten times faster. Every dollar was approved by both commissioners — neither filed a single dissenting vote, catalogued in The Ledger.²

$876,000,000 in new spending and debt, added in three years, under two commissioners who campaigned on small government — and both voted for every record budget and every bond.— Sarasota County CAFR FY2022 & FY2025 (audited)¹

Spend Everything. Borrow More. Burn the Cushion.

In kitchen-table terms: the county maxed out the paycheck — spending up 48%. It ran up the credit card — bonded debt up 76%, nearly doubled. And it burned through its safety cushion. Across all governmental funds, reserves equaled 116% of annual spending in FY2024 — more than a full year's operating costs in the bank. One year later, after spending surged roughly $230 million, that cushion had fallen to 89%, and reserves themselves dropped about $28 million.³The county's FY2026 budget then appropriated $41.7 millionout of the General Fund's reserves. Spend every dollar. Borrow to spend more. Watch the cushion shrink — then budget to dip into it again. That is not “small government.” It is a county outrunning its own bank account.

Three Historic Records

• Record #1 — Largest three-year spending increase in the modern record+48% across FY2022–FY2025.¹
• Record #2 — Largest single-year spending spike ever recordedFY2025 jumped 24.7% in one year, from $977 million to $1.22 billion.¹
• Record #3 — Bonded debt nearly doubled in three yearsFrom $630 million to $1.11 billion, a 76% increase.¹

Every three-year window from FY2005 through FY2025 was tested; none comes close. The prior largest three-year increase was roughly 25–30% during the pre-recession boom of 2005–2008 — and that ended in the worst fiscal crisis in a generation.⁴

Where Did the Money Go?

Not primarily to roads. Not to public safety. Not to services for a growing population. By the county's own audited numbers, Sarasota ranks #5 of 66 Florida counties for General Government spending, at $4,394 per resident VERIFIEDⓘDerivation.⁵Only four counties in the entire state spend more on running the government itself. And the county's four incorporated cities — North Port, City of Sarasota, Venice, and Longboat Key — provide their own police, roads, water, and sewer, and all but the City of Sarasota run their own fire service. Those cities absorbed most of the county's population growth and pay for most of their own services. So if the cities handle their own growth, what exactly did the county spend $876 million more on?

What This Costs Your Family

Here is what the record means at your kitchen table — line by line:

• $20,508each family of four's share of the record $2.5 billion FY2026 budget ($5,127 per resident × 4)⁶
  VERIFIEDⓘHow we got this number
• $36,584total government burden per family of four, adding each family's $16,076 share of accumulated county debt⁶
  VERIFIEDⓘHow we got this number
• $327 / monthwhat a median-income family of four ($80,633) has left after housing, taxes, insurance, food, and basic transportation. No childcare. No savings. No cushion⁶
  VERIFIEDⓘHow we got this number

This is the financial reality Neunder and Smith built.

The “Small Government” Promise vs. the Record

Both commissioners campaigned on fiscal conservatism. Neunder's platform names “small government, low taxes, and balanced budgets.” Smith positioned himself as a responsible businessman. The record tells a different story: they promised small government and delivered #5 in Florida for General Government spending; promised fiscal responsibility and delivered $876 million in new spending and debt; promised low taxes against a $36,584-per-family total burden; promised conservative budgets and adopted a record $2.5 billion one; promised to protect reserves while the all-funds cushion fell from 116% to 89% of spending in a single year; and promised to control debt while bonded debt nearly doubled. They rubber-stamped every record budget and every bond — zero budget dissents, zero budget amendments proposed, zero public statements questioning whether this pace was sustainable.

He knew. You paid. Every single time.

On the Record

These are not abstract numbers — they are votes, and the commissioners who cast them face challengers who have made the county's spending a central issue. In District 2, incumbent Mark Smith faces Kristina Sargent, a U.S. Army veteran with more than 15 years of service including a Middle East deployment, a former prosecutor, and a current civil-defense attorney who entered the race after the 2024 hurricane flooding. In District 4, incumbent Dr. Joe Neunder faces Jim DeNiro, a retired Sarasota Police Department sergeant with 30 years of service, endorsed by the Florida Police Benevolent Association and the National Association of Police Organizations, who has pointed to the record $2.5 billion budget as evidence of spending that “warrants careful scrutiny.”