By Michael Barfield and Derek Gilliam | September 5 2025
Sarasota County administrators are stiff-arming recommendations from a stormwater consultant and plan to push another rate hike on residents despite a new audit showing the utility could have more than $70 million over the next five years without raising rates.
Just two years after a substantial increase in stormwater environmental utility rates, Sarasota County staff is once again asking taxpayers to open their wallets to bolster water quality and flood protections ahead of future storms. The proposed tax increase comes as county leaders scramble to fill gaps in the stormwater system that last year left thousands of homes flooded in unsuspecting neighborhoods miles from the coast.
A joint investigation by the Florida Trident and Suncoast Searchlight into the failures found the county ignored sediment buildup in Phillippi Creek, left key stormwater positions sitting vacant while work orders piled up and overlooked glaring system vulnerabilities noted by consultants years earlier. All contributed to a stormwater utility operating in disarray.
In response, the county hired new Stormwater Director Ben Quartermaine, who has proposed raising annual rates by more than one-fourth on average to fund the department’s turnaround.
But the recommendation contradicts a newly released audit by Steve Suau — a retired department head who was hired July 18 as a consultant to review stormwater ordinances and projects. Operating on a $30 million annual budget, his audit notes, the department already has a glut of stormwater money available and suggests not throwing more taxes at the problem.
Read more.
