Even his own colleagues voted to claw back $7.5 million in federal disaster money from a developer-tied startup that had raised nothing. Mark Smith was the only commissioner who voted to keep it flowing.
In the fall of 2024, the Sarasota County Commission set aside $7.5 million in federal Hurricane Ian disaster-recovery money for a brand-new nonprofit called the Building Industry Institute — a startup with no campus, no track record, and a promise to raise private dollars to match the public grant. LGAI is an affiliate of the Suncoast Builders Association, run by CEO Jon Mast.
The training facility was to go in a former Perkins restaurant near Cattlemen and Fruitville roads. LGAI doesn't own that property. Carlos Beruff's Medallion Homes does — it bought the building for about $1.65 million in November 2024. (Sarasota County Property Appraiser, as reported by Florida Trident.)
By spring, LGAI had reported not a single confirmed private donation. Instead of raising the money it promised, it turned to Tallahassee for $4 million more in taxpayer funds. (WUSF.)
And just days after the county's award, LGAI's CEO was photographed at a party, cigar in hand, in a custom T-shirt that read simply: "$7.5 Million." He was celebrating money he had not earned, for a program that had not trained a single student. (Florida Trident.)
The optics were bad enough that the commission hauled LGAI back for questions. On April 22, 2025, the commissioners voted to cancel the agreement and redirect the $7.5 million to other Hurricane Ian recovery needs.
The vote was 3 to 1.
Commissioner Joe Neunder made the motion. Commissioner Tom Knight seconded it. Commissioner Ron Cutsinger joined them. Three Republicans — including two who had questioned the deal from the start — voted to take the money back.
One commissioner voted no: Mark Smith.
Smith was the lone vote to keep $7.5 million in public money flowing to a developer-aligned nonprofit that had raised nothing, owned nothing, and delivered nothing — whose chief executive had already thrown himself a party over the grant. As the Sarasota News Leader reported, Smith kept supporting LGAI's plans, just as he had the year before.
Consider what that means. This is the same commission that, on Mark Smith's watch, ran up $876 million in new spending and debt and nearly doubled the county's borrowing. This is not a commission known for saying no. And yet on this — a no-strings handout to a politically wired startup — even this commission drew the line.
Mark Smith didn't.
That is the judgment District 2 voters are asked to renew in August. Smith's opponent, Kristina Sargent, spent a career accountable for public resources — as an Army officer answerable for $80 million in equipment, and as a prosecutor. Voters should scrutinize her too. But the contrast is hard to miss: when the rest of the commission moved to protect taxpayers, Mark Smith stood with the developers.
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 2 Republican primary is August 18.
THE RECORD: On April 22, 2025, the commission voted 3-1 to cancel the $7.5M Building Industry Institute grant and reallocate it to Hurricane Ian recovery. To cancel: Neunder (motion), Knight (second), Cutsinger. Voting no, to keep it: Mark Smith. Commissioner Teresa Mast, wife of LGAI's CEO, recused. Sources: Florida Trident, Sarasota News Leader, WUSF/WSLR (April 2025); Sarasota County Property Appraiser.
