Your county government: $3,648 to $6,002 per person in four budgets.
Take what Sarasota County government spends in a year, add the debt it still owes, and divide by every person it serves. For seven years that figure barely moved. Then it jumped. This site shows exactly what happened, who pays, what the money bought, who voted for it, and what the board could do about it.
- Their four county budgets, FY2023–FY2026
- $6,002per person
- Sarasota County only — spending + debt outstanding, all-in per person. First full year to FY2026 pro forma*.
- Per family of four, FY2026
- $24,008family of four
- Sarasota County only. Was $14,592 in FY2022, the last full year before their watch*.
- Population, same period
- +7.8%population
- 452,378 (FY2022) → 487,640 (FY2025 EDR, held flat for FY2026).
All-in cost of county government per person, FY2016–FY2026
Spending plus debt outstanding, Sarasota County government only.
- Before FY2023
- This board's four budgets
- FY2026 pro forma*
The 60-second version
- Your county government's spending and debt now work out to $6,002 for every person in Sarasota County — $24,008 for a family of four.
- Four years ago it was $3,648 per person. Population grew about 7.8% in that time — the money grew far faster.
- You pay for this through property taxes, fire and EMS assessments, and fees — whether or not any rate “went up.”
- It is fixable: the LGAI Citizens Savings & Efficiency Platform identifies $49.85M to $140.5M a year in savings from the county's own budget, without cutting a single service.
Every number is from the county's own audited reports and adopted budgets, cited to the document. (“Pro forma” means projected from the county's own adopted plan; an ACFR is a government's audited annual financial report.)
Or read it in this order
Five questions, answered in sequence. Each step stands on the one before it, and every figure links back to the county document it came from.
1 · Spending
What happened to county spending?
2 · Who Pays
How does it reach your household, and who covers the bill?
3 · Outcomes
What did the money buy?
4 · The Votes
Who voted for it?
5 · Solutions
What could the board do at its next meeting?