Sarasota County mulls stormwater turnover to the city

Since 1998, Sarasota County has provided stormwater management services to the City of Sarasota via an interlocal agreement with level of service projects funded by stormwater improvement assessments on residential and commercial property tax bills.

By 2027, or perhaps a few years beyond, the city may have to take on that obligation on its own.

Citing a 40% expansion of the county’s service area in 2022, Sarasota County Public Works Director Spencer Anderson told the March 28 joint meeting of city and county commissioners that his staff is recommending an uncoupling of the joint agreement. Such a move would require the city to expand staff, purchase equipment and be responsible for flood mitigation on the mainland and barrier islands.

That pronouncement came as something of a surprise to city commissioners who, other than Jen Ahearn-Koch, had few questions about the proposal.

Stormwater management includes basin master planning in addition to addressing facilities, programs and management necessary for control, treatment and use of stormwater.

It also includes all non-routine capital improvements necessary to enhance the operation of the stormwater system plus all repair services necessary to sustain the operation and treatment of all stormwater runoff.

Currently, the property assessments to accomplish all that within the city limits net approximately $4 million per year, leveraging that amount across the entire budget for the county’s Stormwater Environmental Utility (SEU), which was established in 1989. Whether that amount is sufficient to sustain the program by the city alone is unknown. 

Because the entire matter remains speculative, city officials aren’t commenting on the prospects. Ahearn-Koch, though, had questions.

“I have many, many questions, as you can imagine. Do you all have any other details than what you're providing us here today about your thoughts on all of this?” she asked Anderson. “When I think about the city taking on this responsibility, I imagine it's a quite large in dollars and also staff and necessary facilities, so I'm not really sure what we are in for here.”

Other than the roughly $4 million in citywide assessments collected for the program, Anderson had no further details to provide, other than to speculate that amount of money may not be enough.

“Another topic that has been discussed is the city may be looking for a different level of service than what the county currently provides,” Anderson said. “There were some conversations in the past of having an additional assessment or a different rate set in the city. Those are all things we have to work through the process of determining what the next steps are.”

Among the challenges for the county’s SEU was the 2022 addition of 87 square miles of unincorporated county land, a 40% increase over the prior stormwater service area of 216 square miles. 

“There wasn't much to do in that 87 square miles, but as development has moved further east, there is now a higher level of expectation from our residents that we provide service to in those areas,” Anderson said. As a result, the County Commission directed staff to begin ramping up mitigation efforts in that area.

“That means we are now out in that 87 square miles performing regular maintenance on stormwater coverage, storm water ditches, all the canals and areas that will require maintenance,” Anderson said. “Before we did not perform maintenance there because it was largely rural.”

The city covers 25.2 square miles of service area, including the recently problematic St. Armands Key, or 12% of the county’s service area.