The vote ledger
Every vote behind the $876 million.
The county's spending and debt grew by an audited $876 million in three years. Below is the board's recorded vote on the budgets, bonds, and appropriations that produced it — the receipts that corroborate the $876M, drawn from the official minutes.
Note: the $876M is the audited net change in annual spending plus bonded debt from FY2022 to FY2025. The vote rows below are individual authorizations and roll calls — they corroborate that growth; they are not a running sum of it.
| What it was for | Neunder | Smith | Tally | Source | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-12-13 | Approved and authorized the County Administrator to execute Agreement for continuing commissioning services for County Projects, five-year period with SGM Engineering, Inc., OCI Associates, Inc., and Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. | Spending | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) | |
| 2022-12-13 | Approved Contract No. 2023-077, Non-Exclusive License Agreement with Certus Pest, Inc., for use of portion of Legacy Trail south of Culverhouse Nature Park, Venice, one-year period | Spending | $2,253 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2022-12-13 | Approved Contract No. 2023-081, Subrecipient Agreement with City of North Port for Greenwood Avenue sidewalk construction | Spending | $305,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2022-12-13 | Adopted Resolution No. 2022-258, Budget Amendment No. B2023-009, amending FY 2023 Budget to appropriate funding to CIP Project No. 83248 - Sheriff's Office Headquarters Additions and Renovations - Design | Spending | $4,560,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2022-12-13 | Adopted Resolution No. 2022-259, Budget Amendment No. B2023-012, amending FY 2023 Budget to appropriate additional funding for Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Custodial Services | Spending | $301,507 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2022-12-13 | Approved and authorized County Administrator to execute Term Contract with Boro Building and Property Maintenance to provide custodial services at parks facilities, three-year term | Spending | $2,039,008 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2022-12-13 | Adopted Resolution No. 2022-260, Budget Amendment No. B2023-003, to reflect adjustment in Emergency Solutions Grant CARES Act funds | Spending | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) | |
| 2022-12-13 | Approved Contract Nos. 2023-088 and 2023-089, Subrecipient Agreements for Emergency Shelter and Rapid Re-Housing | Spending | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) | |
| 2022-12-13 | Adopted Resolution No. 2022-267, Budget Amendment No. B2023-010, amending FY 2023 Budget to incorporate supplemental appropriations, revenue adjustments, grants, and transfers | Spending | $15,409,740 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2022-12-13 | Approved Contract No. 2023-082, Subrecipient Agreement with Laurel Civic Association, Inc., for Social Services Case Management | Spending | $55,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2022-12-13 | Approved Contract No. 2023-083, Subrecipient Agreement with City of North Port for Social Services Case Management | Spending | $55,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2022-12-13 | Approved Contract No. 2023-084, CDBG-CV Subrecipient Agreement for food distribution with All Faiths Food Bank, Inc. | Spending | $532,306 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2022-12-13 | Approved and authorized County Administrator to execute Construction Contract with A2 Group, Inc., for household hazardous waste vault replacements | Spending | $1,127,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | County site(opens in a new tab) |
| 2023-01-18 | Approved and authorized agreement with Stearns, Conrad, and Schmidt Consulting Engineers, Inc., for engineering services for Central County Solid Waste Disposal Complex, not to exceed $297,961.00 | Spending | $297,961 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-18 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-005, amending FY 2023-2027 Capital Improvement Program to add North County Facilities as Project No. 83407 | Spending | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | ||
| 2023-01-18 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-006, Budget Amendment No. B2023-013, appropriating $1,349,410.00 for North County Facilities project | Spending | $1,349,410 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-18 | Authorized County Administrator to extend Health and Human Services Fiscal Year 2023 funding through June 30, 2023, and execute related contracts | Spending | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | ||
| 2023-01-18 | Approved Contract No. 2023-093, First Amendment to Contract No. 2020-400, Grant Agreement with University of Florida Board of Trustees, increasing grant amount from $1,200,000.00 to $1,300,000.00 | Spending | $100,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-18 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-001, Budget Amendment No. B2023-014, appropriating $32,879.00 for First Amendment to Contract No. 2020-400 | Spending | $32,879 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-18 | Approved Contract No. 2023-092, Shared Facility Agreement with City of North Port for Fire Station No. 86, four-year term, $188,263.22 | Spending | $188,263 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-18 | Approved Construction Contract with David Kuxhausen Construction, LLC, for irrigation water source modification at Englewood Sports Complex, not to exceed $654,600.00 | Spending | $654,600 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-18 | Approved Construction Contract with Stahlman-England Irrigation, Inc., for irrigation control system upgrades at Englewood Sports Complex, not to exceed $652,120.00 | Spending | $652,120 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-18 | Approved and authorized Amendment No. 3 to Contract No. 2019-156 with Evoqua Water Technologies, LLC, for odor and corrosion control services, increasing total not-to-exceed amount from $6,325,000.00 to $9,100,000.00 | Spending | $2,775,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-18 | Approved expenditures from Law Enforcement Federal Fund in amount of $103,794.00 for equipment purchases | Spending | $103,794 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-31 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-021 relating to issuance of Capital Improvement Revenue Bonds, Series 2023 | Debt | $28,000,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-31 | Approved Contract No. 2023-217 with M/I Homes of Sarasota, LLC for purchase of Transferable Development Rights | Spending | $584,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-31 | Approved Contract No. 2023-218 with Neal Communities of Southwest Florida, LLC for purchase of Transferable Development Rights | Spending | $1,600,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-31 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-015, Budget Amendment No. B2023-015 for Warm Mineral Springs Creek Acquisition | Spending | $73,950 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-31 | Approved Construction Contract with Preferred Materials, Inc. for roadway resurfacing FY 2022 | Spending | $7,646,739 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-31 | Approved Amendment No. 1 to Contract No. 2022-092 with Hach Company for laboratory testing | Spending | $900,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-01-31 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-022, Budget Amendment No. B2023-011 for bond issuance and general revenue appropriation | Spending | $75,105,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-02-22 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-031, Budget Amendment No. B2023-019, appropriating FDEP Red Tide Management Grant Fund | Spending | $995,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-02-22 | Approved and authorized County Administrator to execute Term Contract with Xylem Water Solutions USA, Inc., for Flygt equipment, parts, and service | Spending | $6,450,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-02-22 | Authorized County Administrator to approve individual purchases with Gillig, LLC, for eight 35-foot clean diesel low floor transit busses and associated training | Spending | $5,400,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-02-22 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-037, Budget Amendment No. B2023-017, for Scherer Thaxton Preserve Restroom and Fishing Pier | Spending | $645,700 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-02-22 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-039, Budget Amendment No. B2023-018, for Criminal Justice Center 2nd Floor Court Renovation Design | Spending | $200,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-02-22 | Approved Contract No. 2023-234, Subrecipient Agreement with Centerstone of Florida, Inc., for Behavioral Health Services for Health Care Court | Spending | $108,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-02-22 | Approved and authorized County Administrator to execute Construction Contract with Sully's, LLC, for Scherer Thaxton Park improvements | Spending | $1,052,090 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Authorized the County Administrator to approve individual purchases for fire equipment, supplies and services in a cumulative amount not to exceed $2,000,000.00 per fiscal year | Spending | $2,000,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Approved Construction Contract with Razorback, LLC for rehabilitation of slide gates and catwalk for Dona Bay - King's Gate weir replacement, not to exceed $344,900.00 | Spending | $344,900 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-053, Budget Amendment No. B2023-023, amending FY 2023 Budget to appropriate funding for Sheriff's Helicopter Upgrade Project, Armored Quick Rescue and Response Vehicle Project, and Mobile Command Center Vehicle Project, in the amount of $7,987,353.00 | Spending | $7,987,353 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Authorized the County Administrator to approve the award of a Construction Contract for the South Siesta Key Beach Repair Project, not to exceed $11,000,000.00 | Spending | $11,000,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-059, Budget Amendment No. B2023-024, amending FY 2023 Budget to appropriate funding for Lorraine Road Projects (Segments A, B, and C) and sidewalk along Honore Avenue, in the amount of $11,577,653.00 | Spending | $11,577,653 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Approved Contract No. 2023-245, Sub-Award Funding Agreement with Florida Atlantic University for Watershed Master Plan Project, in the amount of $200,000.00 | Spending | $200,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-047, Budget Amendment No. B2023-016, amending FY 2023 Budget to appropriate funding for Curry Creek Preserve - Edmondson Farms Property ESLPP Acquisition and Start-Up Project and FY 2023 operating impacts, in the amount of $3,429,288.00 | Spending | $3,429,288 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Adopted Resolution No. 2023-054, Budget Amendment No. B2023-020, amending FY 2023 Budget to appropriate additional funding for South Siesta Key Beach Repair Project, in the amount of $7,709,200.00 | Spending | $7,709,200 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Approved Contract No. 2023-248, Interlocal Agreement with LT Ranch Community Development District authorizing County's contribution of $5,070,000.00 in mobility fee reimbursement and $4,886,335.80 in mobility fee credits ($9,956,335.80 total) for Lorraine Road Segment A | Spending | $9,956,335 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Approved Contract No. 2023-249, Interlocal Agreement with Lakes of Sarasota Community Development Districts I and II authorizing County's contribution of $2,395,000.00 in mobility fee reimbursement for Lorraine Road Segment B | Spending | $2,395,000 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-07 | Approved Contract No. 2023-250, Amendment No. 9 to Road Impact Fee and Property Acquisition Agreement with Palmer Ranch, LTD, and McCann Holdings, LTD, authorizing County's contribution of $3,635,625.00 in mobility fee reimbursements for Lorraine Road Segment C and $120,000.00 for Honore Avenue sidewalk | Spending | $3,755,625 | Yes | Yes | 5-0 | |
| 2023-03-08 | Requested that the County Administrator extend the funding through September 30, 2023, related to the contracted Health and Human Services Fiscal Year 2023 funding | Spending | Yes | Yes | 5-0 |
Rows shaded red contain a recorded No vote. “Under review” means the vote is not yet confirmed from minutes — it is never shown as a yes.
What the record adds up to
Gross authorizations across the full Neunder/Smith term. These are deliberately not summed into the $876M, which measures the FY2022→FY2025 end-state change.
How we count
The $876 million is a change, not a sum of the votes below.It is the audited difference between two snapshots of the county’s finances. Annual spending rose from $823.2M (FY2022) to $1,218.6M (FY2025) — up $395.4M. Bonded debt rose from $629.8M to $1,110.8M — up $481.0M. Together that is $876.4M in new spending and debt, a 60.3% increase on the $1.45B starting base (Sarasota County ACFR FY2022 & FY2025, audited).
Which “debt” this uses. The $876.4M figure counts bonds payable— the instrument the Commission itself authorizes by roll-call vote, which is what this ledger tracks. Bonds grew $629.8M → $1,110.8M (+76.4%). The county’s total debt — bonds plus loans, leases, and other long-term obligations — grew $827.3M → $1,230.3M (+48.7%). Substituting total debt for bonds would give $798.4M rather than $876.4M. Both figures are exact against the audited reports; we publish the bonds version and disclose the total-debt version here so the choice is visible rather than buried.
The table above is the vote record— every individual budget, bond, and appropriation the board passed. We show it as the receipts that corroborate that $876M change, never as a running total of it. Summing the rows would double-count: one year’s spending is authorized many times over — budget adoption, later amendments, and the bi-weekly warrant registers that pay the very same bills.
Across the term the board took 712 enacted, in-scope money, debt, and tax votes — on these Smith recorded No on 0, Neunder on 2, and 0 of the most recent actions are still “pending minutes,” where we do not assert a vote until the official record confirms it. The gross sums below tally every such vote; they are not net-new dollars — see the breakdown beneath each.
$1,784,326,000
Gross sum of every debt-related vote — see breakdown
across 38 bond/debt roll calls. Of this, only $295,732,000 is new county-obligor debt Neunder voted to approve — excluding conduit bonds the county does not repay, voter-approved ballot/surtax ceilings, and refinancings.
15
Whole budgets adopted
whole budgets — shown, not part of the $876M net figure
$3,125,676,794
Gross sum of every spending vote — see breakdown
across 655line-item appropriations (excludes the whole budgets at left). A gross tally, not net-new: it includes warrant registers, grant pass-throughs, and bond-funded items — not all discretionary.
The confirmed record
Smith: yes on every enacted, in-scope county spending and debt increase. Neunder: yes on all but one — the $15 million economic-recovery grant he opposed (at both the award and the contract stage; each passed 3–2).
Enacted, in-scope money & debt votes: 712. Neunder recorded No on 2; Smith on 0of these. Smith’s three No votes on money — a denied budget amendment, an HSAC funding spreadsheet, and a CDBG-DR pass-through reallocation — all fall on matters listed under “Out of scope / did not pass” below, which is why they are not counted among the enacted increases here.
On the voting record:Commissioners Joe Neunder and Mark Smith voted yes on every record budget and bond that produced the $876 million in new spending and debt, FY2022–FY2025. Vote rows are transcribed from official Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners minutes; the table above is filtered to money and debt motions. Rows that did not enact county money — zoning entitlements, allocations of already-budgeted funds, federal pass-through reallocations, denial motions, and motions that failed — are listed separately under “Out of scope / did not pass” and are excluded from the totals. Figures are gross authorizations and are not summed into the audited $876M net change. Sarasota County ≠ City of Sarasota.
† A small number of the most recent board actions show “Pending minutes.” The official action agenda confirms the item was adopted, but Sarasota County has not yet published the adopted minutes that record each commissioner’s individual vote. We do not assert a vote until the official roll-call confirms it; these update automatically as the County posts the minutes.
© Local Government Accountability. Source: Sarasota County BCC minutes (Nov. 2022–2025); county ACFR FY2022 & FY2025 (audited).