Joe Neunder ran on small government, low taxes, and balanced budgets. As commission chairman he presided over the largest spending expansion in the county's modern record. Here is the documented record.
Joe Neunder made promises. The record shows he broke them.
He stood in front of Republican voters and said the words "small government, low taxes, balanced budgets." Then he took office and governed in the opposite direction — on the record, in public votes, with audited financial statements to prove it.
This is the man Sarasota County voters entrusted with a $2.5 billion budget. Let's talk about that budget.
The Promises
Neunder's campaign website — still live, still unchanged, we checked — calls his approach "the secret to Sarasota's success": small government, low taxes, balanced budgets. It's on the Sarasota GOP page. It's in his Florida Politics announcement. It's in his Herald-Tribune interviews. He was Vice Chair of the county Republican Party in 2024 and Chair in 2025 — the brand was the whole pitch.
Small government. Low taxes. Balanced budgets.
Now let's talk about what Joe Neunder actually did with the gavel.
The Record
As Chairman of the Sarasota County Commission in 2025, Neunder presided over and voted for the following:
A $2.5 billion budget — the largest in the county's modern record, more than double the budget of a decade ago. (Note 1)
And the safety cushion is thinning. Across all of the county's governmental funds, reserves equaled 116% of annual spending in FY2024 — over a year's operating costs banked. By FY2025, after a roughly $230 million spending surge, that cushion had dropped to 89%, with reserves down about $28 million. The FY2026 budget Neunder's commission adopted then appropriated $41.7 million out of the General Fund's reserves. Reserves exist for emergencies — hurricanes, downturns, infrastructure failures — not to backfill a structural spending gap.
Roughly 100 new county positions added in a single budget cycle. When a man who campaigns on "small government" grows the payroll by a hundred employees in one year, that is not conservatism. That is a promise broken in plain sight. (Note 1)
A $75.1 million Administration Center (Project 83203) near Fruitville Road — a four-story, 122,000-square-foot Class A facility that, according to the project's general contractor, includes an Access Sarasota television production studio, a wellness center for county employees, new commission chambers, a press room, and a parking garage. Approved 5-0 in January 2023 with Commissioner Smith seconding (Res. 2023-022), funded substantially by bonds. The project predates Neunder; he has said so. But the financing and approvals that advanced it were voted with his support — he did not object, did not vote no, and did not ask whether a county facing projected deficits should be building a new headquarters at all. (Note 2)
BY THE NUMBERS: Sarasota County added $876 million in combined new spending and debt between FY2022 and FY2025 — the largest fiscal expansion in the county's modern record. Spending grew 48% while population grew just 7.8%. Source: Sarasota County CAFR FY2022 and FY2025, audited by CliftonLarsonAllen LLP.
Projected deficits in the tens of millions over the next three fiscal years. (Note 1) He inherited a county in the black and is steering it toward a cumulative hole.
And here is the part every District 4 taxpayer should sit with:
When Commissioner Tom Knight — the one commissioner who actually ran a major county department, having served twelve years as Sheriff — proposed asking the current Sheriff to trim his budget request by a modest 3%, Neunder shut it down. He did not debate it. He did not put it to a vote. He simply said: "I don't see anybody else here at the moment that really wants to talk about it." And moved on.
General Fund public-safety spending — the Sheriff's office is its largest piece — grew $76.5 million, nearly 59%, over five years (Sarasota County CAFR FY2021–FY2025). Sheriff Kurt Hoffman — who has endorsed Neunder for re-election — didn't attend the workshop where his spending was reviewed. Neither did the Tax Collector. Neunder let it slide.
Small government. Low taxes. Balanced budgets.
The Developer Pipeline
BY THE NUMBERS: Sarasota County ranks #5 of 66 Florida counties for General Government spending — $4,394 per resident, an audited CAFR figure. Source: Sarasota County CAFR; FL EDR county fiscal data. (See Note 3.)
Before Neunder was a commissioner, he sat on the county Planning Commission, where local journalists who covered him described him as "generally a reliable vote for developers." Those aren't our words — that's WSLR News, which has covered county government for years.
When he reached the dais, the money followed. Neunder raised $132,210 for his 2022 primary — nearly ten times what his opponent collected (Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections filings, 2022 cycle). His donor list runs heavy with real-estate developers, land companies, and PACs tied to the same network that has dominated county politics for a decade.
One detail says it all: before he was even a commissioner, Neunder donated to "Stop! Stealing Our Votes" — the developer-funded PAC that opposed single-member-district voting, the reform that gives neighborhoods a voice against developer-backed countywide candidates. The reform passed anyway. Twice. Voters saw through it.
The Economic Own-Goal
In June 2024, Neunder voted with Mike Moran and Neil Rainford to repeal the county's decades-old business tax funding the Economic Development Corporation. The EDC had 14 active clients projected to bring $49 million in new investment and 295 jobs (Your Observer, June 2024). The tax generated $472,000 a year (Suncoast Searchlight, June 2024) — 0.03% of the operating budget. A rounding error in the $2.5 billion budget he would later approve.
He killed it anyway — because it sounded conservative and fit on a mailer. The Your Observer editorial board called the three commissioners who voted for it "oblivious."
The Stealth Tax
Facing the deficits his own spending helped create, Neunder's commission has explored a utility franchise fee — a charge that lands on your FPL and water bills instead of your property-tax notice, structured precisely so commissioners can claim they "didn't raise your taxes."
That's the fiscal philosophy in one line: spend like there's no tomorrow, draw down reserves when tomorrow arrives, and when the bill comes due, hide it on the electric bill.
BY THE NUMBERS: A median-income Sarasota family of four has roughly $327/month left after housing, taxes, insurance, food, and transportation. The FY2026 budget equals $20,508 per family of four in authorized spending. Source: U.S. Census ACS 2023; FY2026 Adopted Budget.
Why This Is on the Ballot — August 18
Joe Neunder is asking District 4 Republicans for four more years, with an unchanged campaign website and the confidence of a man who believes voters don't read budgets.
Jim DeNiro — a retired 30-year Sarasota Police Department sergeant who actually managed budgets, personnel, and public-safety operations — is challenging him in the Republican primary. DeNiro is endorsed by the Florida Police Benevolent Association and the National Association of Police Organizations, and has called the $2.5 billion budget spending that "warrants careful scrutiny."
Every number above is drawn from the county's own audited records. Read the derivations, then share this with a neighbor who's wondering why everything costs more. The District 4 Republican primary is August 18.
Check your district → · Meet the candidates →
Neunder promised small government and grew the payroll. He promised low taxes and floated a stealth fee on your electric bill. He promised balanced budgets and presided over an $876 million expansion while drawing down reserves and staring at projected deficits.
We see you, Chairman. And on August 18, so will the voters.
The Sarasota County Facts Editorial Board invited Commissioner Neunder to respond to the specific claims in this editorial. As of publication, he has not responded. The invitation remains open.
Sources & Notes
Note 1 — Budget, payroll, and deficit figures are drawn from the FY2026 Adopted Budget and county budget-workshop materials and are being cross-checked against the audited CAFR; see our Sources page.
Note 2 — The administration-center project predates Neunder's tenure, which he has publicly acknowledged. The debt financing and approvals advancing it were voted under his chairmanship; he did not object or vote no. Final all-in cost figures vary between construction-only and total-project reporting.
Note 3 — The $4,394 per-resident figure is the audited CAFR General Government category divided by population (#5 of 66 counties), the same metric local officials cite publicly; it includes funds the county routes onward to schools and special districts and is reported as audited.
