A FISCAL-ACCOUNTABILITY REVIEW
The Case Against the Incumbents
The Investigation
Sarasota County Facts is a project of the Local Government Accountability, an independent 501(c)(4) fiscal-accountability research organization. This investigation began approximately seven months ago, prompted by local citizens asking a simple question: where is the money going? We answered it the only way we know how — by reading the county's own records.
Over that period we gathered and reviewed 485 official documents — 15,983 pages and 227,637 individual financial records — covering Sarasota County and every one of its cities. We pulled the audited financial reports (CAFRs), adopted budgets, and revenue records spanning the years immediately before and during the current terms of the two first-term commissioners elected in 2022: Joe Neunder (District 4) and Mark Smith (District 2).
The Sarasota County Commission has five members, and the spending and borrowing decisions documented here were made by the board as a whole. Our findings focus on Commissioners Neunder and Smith for one reason: their seats — District 4 and District 2 — are the only two on the ballot in 2026. They are the two records voters can act on now: in the Republican primary on August 18, and in the general election that follows in November.
The numbers told their own story. Measured against comparable Florida communities, Sarasota County showed an abnormally rapid rise in both debt and spending — patterns that, on their face, signaled a lack of fiscal stewardship and warranted a closer look.
So we went deeper. We examined what each commissioner ran on — their stated platforms and public commitments at the time of their election — then read the actual board agendas, meeting minutes, and recorded votes across their terms. We reviewed the full body of independent reporting and investigation by reputable media across the county and the state that has scrutinized Sarasota County's fiscal management.
The record is consistent across every source. By their own votes, their own past statements, and the findings of independent third-party reporting, both Neunder and Smith have demonstrated fiscal irresponsibility and a lack of stewardship of Sarasota County's resources. It is our strong conclusion that neither should be returned to office for another term. The Republican primary is August 18, 2026 — the record is now in front of you, and what you do with it is yours.
Verified — browse all 485 source documents and see exactly how we counted them →
A note on fairness and scope:our review of the challengers is not yet complete. A questionnaire is going to every candidate in these races, each with seven calendar days to respond, and we will publish our findings on them — held to the same standard: their concrete plans to investigate county spending and debt, to cut extravagant or unnecessary outlays, and to bring real efficiency to county operations. And our work does not end at two seats. As each commissioner's term comes up for election — primary or general — we will examine that record the same way, and hold every candidate who seeks the seat, of either party, to the same test. Fiscal accountability belongs to no party, and neither do we.
THE RECORD
The Findings
28findings, each drawn from the county's own audited records. Every line links to how we got the number and to a card you can share.
- 1.
+$876M$876 million added to your tab in three years.
Between FY2022 and FY2025, annual county spending rose from $823 million to $1.22 billion (+$395.4 million) and bonded debt rose from $630 million to $1.11 billion (+$481.0 million). Combined: $876 million in new obligations — from $1.45 billion to $2.33 billion, up 60.3%.
- 2.
$100.2MThey built themselves a ~$100 million headquarters — with a TV studio and a wellness center.
The county's own capital budget carries the new County Administration Center (Project 83203) at about $100.2 million — a four-story, 122,000-square-foot Class A building that, per the project's general contractor, includes an Access Sarasota television studio, a wellness center, new commission chambers, a press room, and a parking garage. The board approved and financed it in a series of 5-0 votes beginning January 31, 2023, with Commissioner Smith seconding.
- 3.
$18.1MThey agreed to pay $18.1 million for land the seller bought for $8.9 million — two years earlier.
The county agreed to pay $18.1 million for a 2.04-acre boatyard parcel at 1500 Stickney Point Road that the seller had purchased for $8.9 million in January 2024 — about double the seller's recorded price, two years later. Total authorization reached $21.36 million, with roughly $20.77 million to be borrowed.
- 4.
$25MThey sold the county's headquarters, leased it back — then built a ~$100 million one.
The county sold its 170,000-square-foot downtown headquarters to Benderson Development for $25 million in December 2021 and leased it back until 2025. County staff had estimated about $49 million in repairs would keep that building running 20 more years. The county built a new administration center instead — carried in its capital budget at about $100.2 million, and 50,000 square feet smaller than the one it sold.
- 5.
It now takes $87,000 on one income to raise two kids here.
On deliberately conservative assumptions — modest rent, no childcare, no emergencies, a bare 5% savings margin — a single-earner family of four needs about $87,170 gross to make it in Sarasota County. The average worker wage is $60,112.
- 6.
The people who keep this county running can no longer afford to live in it.
A single-earner family of four needs about $87,170 gross to live here on a stripped-down budget. The average worker earns $60,112. Even the $80,633 median household income — inflated by retiree wealth — falls short.
- 7.
+76%Your county's debt jumped 76%. Your paycheck didn't.
County bonded debt rose from $629.8 million (FY2022) to $1.11 billion (FY2025) — up 76.4%, nearly double — while the population the county primarily serves grew just 5.6%.
- 8.
$2,838Every person the county serves now owes $2,838 in county debt.
County bonded debt now works out to $2,838 for every resident the county primarily serves — up 67% in three years.
- 9.
+$64MThey cut the rate. Your bill went up.
Sarasota County's countywide millage fell from 3.4463 mills (FY2023) to 3.3856 mills (FY2025) — about a 1.8% 'rate cut' — yet ad valorem property-tax collections still ROSE from $270.2 million to $334.3 million, up 23.7%, because taxable value jumped from $82.54 billion to $103.94 billion (+25.9%). A rate cut that takes 23.7% more of your money is a tax increase presented as a cut.
- 10.
11.9×The debt burden grew nearly twelve times faster than the people carrying it.
From FY2022 to FY2025, debt per served resident grew 11.9 times faster than the served population. Combined new obligations grew 10.8 times faster. Spending per served resident grew 7.2 times faster.
- 11.
116% → 89%While spending hit records, they tapped the savings to pay for it.
Across all county funds, the reserve ratio fell from 116% of annual spending (FY2024) to 89% (FY2025) — and the FY2026 budget appropriates $41.7 million from the General Fund's reserves.
- 12.
$13M/YRUp to $13 million a year in savings sat on the table. They grew the cost instead.
A 10% reduction in the county's administrative operating cost would save roughly $7.7 to $13.4 million every year — against the county's own projected $31.6 million deficit in FY2028.
- 13.
#5 OF 66A 'small government' county that ranks 5th in Florida for General Government spending.
Sarasota ranks #5 of 66 Florida counties for General Government spending at $4,394 per resident. Only four counties in the entire state — Pinellas, Monroe, Walton, and Jefferson — spend more per person on General Government spending.
- 14.
0Even the county's own towns put their debt to a vote. The county never does.
Longboat Key put every dollar of its debt to a referendum. North Port's charter forbids any debt without voter approval. The county's $1.11 billion in revenue-secured bonds required no referendum — and none was ever held.
- 15.
-$31.6M → -$40.8MTheir own colleague says they're on 'a path to destruction.'
Commissioner Tom Knight, the former three-term Sarasota County Sheriff, called the county's budget course 'a path to destruction' and cast the only no votes at both FY2026 budget hearings. Mark Smith admitted on the record: 'We're spending money that we are not going to have. And we're running out of track and not slowing down.' Then he voted yes. The county's own projections show deficits of $31.6 million (FY2028), $40.8 million (FY2029), and $39.2 million (FY2030).
- 16.
ZERONot one vote against a budget or a bond.
Across every record budget and every bond issuance from FY2022 through FY2025 — through a 48% spending surge and a 76% debt increase — the record shows no budget or bond dissent from either commissioner.
- 17.
$7.5MA $7.5 million grant to a developer-tied nonprofit that raised $0 on its own. Smith voted to keep paying it.
The county awarded a $7.5 million federal disaster-recovery (CDBG-DR) grant to the Building Industry Institute, a construction-industry nonprofit whose own IRS filing showed $0 raised in private donations. The board clawed the grant back 3–1 in April 2025 — Smith voting no on the clawback. A separate $350,000 state appropriation for the group had been redirected from a hurricane-shelter project.
- 18.
4–1 / 3–1Five commissioners. Only one ever voted no.
The record FY2026 budget passed 4-1 at the September 10, 2025 tentative hearing and 3-1 at the September 24, 2025 final hearing (one commissioner absent) — Knight the lone dissent both times.
- 19.
$2.52BThe biggest budget in the modern record passed over the only 'no' in the room.
The FY2026 budget — $2.52 billion, the largest in the county's modern record (FY2020–FY2026 documents examined) — was adopted 4-1 at the tentative hearing and 3-1 at the final hearing, over Commissioner Knight's lone dissent.
- 20.
+40% / +67%They said the county was 'growing.' The numbers say otherwise.
Excluding North Port — a self-servicing city with its own police, fire, roads, and utilities — the population the county primarily serves grew just 5.61% from FY2022 to FY2025. County spending per served resident rose 40% ($2,221 → $3,114) and bonded debt per served resident rose 67% ($1,700 → $2,838).
- 21.
$1.7BRecord growth. Record debt. And $1.7 billion behind on roads.
Sarasota County faces a transportation funding shortfall of roughly $1.7 billion as development booms. The county's own Commissioner Tom Knight (District 3) put it on the record in June 2026: 'We are now $1.7 billion behind in funding for roads in Sarasota County.'
- 22.
−50.9%One city CUT its debt in HALF while the county grew its own 76%.
North Port — whose city charter forbids ANY debt without voter approval — cut its TOTAL debt from $84.0 million to $41.2 million, down 50.9%, while absorbing the fastest population growth in the county. North Port owes $446 per resident. The county owes $2,838 per resident it primarily serves.
- 23.
$643 vs $652The county's biggest city runs its administration cheaper than the county does.
On the state's own books, North Port runs its General Government — administration and overhead — at $643 per resident. Sarasota County's operational General Government, excluding custodial pass-through funds, costs $652 per resident — serving a population more than five times larger, with no scale savings over its own biggest city.
- 24.
Record development. Record debt. Young families priced out.
Record development and record debt — yet a one-income family of four now needs about $87,170 to live here while the average worker earns $60,112. Spending per served resident is up 40% and debt per served resident up 67% in three years.
- 25.
$135M–$657MA $373 million pension obligation swings by half a billion on one assumption.
The county's net pension liability is $372.7 million (FY2025) — down from $449 million in FY2023. But the same liability becomes $657 million if the discount rate is one point lower, and $135 million if one point higher: a half-billion-dollar swing on a single assumption.
- 26.
485We read the county's own records — 485 documents. Here's what they show.
This investigation rests on 485 primary-source government documents totaling 15,983 catalogued pages — audited financial reports, adopted budgets, board minutes, resolutions, and state filings — plus 227,637 structured financial records covering all 67 Florida counties.
- 27.
373Mark Smith won his seat by 373 votes. Your turnout decides this.
In 2022, Mark Smith won District 2 by 373 votes — 19,148 to 18,775 (50.49% to 49.51%) — out of nearly 38,000 ballots cast.
- 28.
August 18 is the moment to correct the course.
The District 2 and District 4 seats are decided in the August 18 Republican primary.
DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT
Their Own Words
We add only the context. Every judgment below belongs to the official or document quoted.
A sitting county commissioner, a former three-term county sheriff, on the board's bond-funded construction:
“[They were allowed to] spend like drunken sailors, bonding millions of dollars for extravagant new buildings,” and the county is on a “path to destruction.”
The same commissioner, on the county's road-funding backlog:
“We are now $1.7 billion behind in funding for roads.”
The District 2 incumbent, at the August 2025 budget workshop — then voted yes on the budget:
“We're spending money that we are not going to have. And we're running out of track and not slowing down.”
The District 2 incumbent, on taking office in 2022:
“I've gotta produce. If I don't, then in four years, I'll be out.”
The District 4 incumbent's own campaign platform:
“Government revenues are at an all-time high… County coffers have been infused with millions,” while promising to “pursue broad based tax cuts and insist on fiscally conservative budgets.”
THE NUMBERS
The Data
Sarasota County's spending, debt, and per-resident burden — measured against all 66 Florida counties, from the state's own fiscal data.
See all the data →THE PROOF
The Sources
227,637 verified financial records across 485 primary-source documents
15,983 pages, 692.33 MB — every figure traces to a public document you can download.