City of Sarasota, county fund balances take a hit in hurricane cost

As both the city of Sarasota and Sarasota County governments enter budget season, the health of their respective general fund balances is always top of mind. 

While there is no minimum percentage of fund balance to general fund required for cities and counties in Florida, the Government Finance Officers Association recommends at least two months of emergency spending set aside. The city and county routinely exceed reserving the minimum.

The general fund balance, among other factors, also affects a local government’s bond rating, which influences interest rates on debt.

Going into the current fiscal year, the city carried a fund balance of $28.7 million, the county $163 million across its emergency/disaster related reserves. Although FEMA will reimburse most of the local governments’ recovery expenses, it won’t likely cover them all, and it can take years. 

The city, for example, expects to be reimbursed for expenses in some capacity by FEMA, but a city spokesman said when and by how much remains to be seen. Communications Assistant Luke Mocherman said nearly five years elapsed between Hurricane Irma’s 2017 damage and federal reimbursement, adding that process is long and complex. On a similar timeline, the town of Longboat Key in 2019 received FEMA money for beach damage done in 2012.

Those kinds of delays will leave a gap in planning the fiscal year 2026 budgets for both governments.

"We don’t have any estimate on FEMA reimbursement amounts or an estimated timeline for reimbursement at this point in time," Mocherman said.

The city did receive more than $7.7 million up front from FEMA to help cover recovery costs connected to the 2024 spate of storms. In total, Mocherman said, the city racked up more than $17 million in recovery expenses, as of March 31, the balance of which was paid from Sarasota’s reserves to the tune of $9.4 million.

The city’s budget began the fiscal year with about $28.7 million in reserve, which is about 27% of the total budget, according to city data. Standard practice is to operate with a reserve of about 22%, which can keep the city running for about three months following an emergency.

Last fall, Deputy City Manager Patrick Robinson said a worse storm surge would have increased damages and the need for deeper reserves. “We had about six-foot to 10-foot storm surge,” he said. “I can’t imagine what 10-to 15-foot storm surge would be, so I think having that change in your pocket goes a long way for situations like that.’’

Among the projects in the city still awaiting completion are repairs and restoration of several key parks. Bayfront Park, Bird Key Park, Ken Thompson Park, Doc and Eloise Werlin Park and its adjacent Tony Saprito Fishing Pier each will need more than $1 million in work. The city says it doesn’t expect the last of those fixes to be complete until 2027. 

Discussions with FEMA continue in connection with those projects, said City Engineer Nik Patel.

Damage to city and private property within the city limits reached beyond $50 million from the three storms. About 320,000 cubic yards of debris — the equivalent of nearly 10,000 typical truckloads — was collected and hauled to disposal sites around the state. That was nearly four times the debris from Irma.

Sarasota County officials expect to be reimbursed for storm recovery costs in the amount of $75 million, about $10 million shy of the $85 million spent to date.