The Record: Joe Neunder — Sarasota County

While he served, the all-in county cost for a family of four went from

$14,592$24,008a year

+$9,416 a year, a 65% increase

Four budget cycles — from the year before this board took over (FY2022) to the FY2026 plan it adopted. He recorded Yes on every one of the 15 budget adoptions and every one of the 40 borrowing items that came to the dais during that time.

$5.36B

in stated dollar amounts enacted with his Yes across the term

1,018 – 14

recorded Yes vs. recorded No — a +98.6% Yes rate

$1.58B

in brand-new borrowing, approved 32 out of 32 times

12 of 14

of his No positions came on items that passed anyway

The pattern in the record is consistency. Across nearly a thousand recorded roll calls, Joe Neunder is recorded against just fourteen items — and on the money itself, virtually never: every budget adoption, every millage rate, every borrowing item, and all but one brand-new spending authorization carries his Yes. Twelve of his fourteen No positions came on items that passed anyway.

The household bill, year by year

All-in county spending and debt per family of four. The red bars are the budgets adopted while he was on the board; the dashed line marks the takeover.

Note: the y-axis starts at $10,000 rather than zero, so the change over time is easier to see. The numbers themselves are exactly as reported.

Before FY2023
This board's budgets
FY2026 pro forma*
This board takes over

The short version: a family of four's share is $9,416 a year higher than when this board took over, and every budget that did that carries his Yes.

FY2026 is pro forma — projected from the budget the board itself adopted. Source: locked county series built from audited ACFRs and adopted budgets; documented here.

The money items, one by one

Share of each category he approved, out of the roll calls where he is recorded. Nothing here is characterization. It's division.

Approved share
Highlighted

Read it this way: on the items that grow the budget (the budgets themselves, the borrowing, the new spending) he approved 100%, 100%, and 99.1% respectively.

15/15

budget and millage adoptions approved — including every final budget and every rate that produces the bills above.

40/40

borrowing items approved — $1.58B of new debt plus $256.6M refinanced.

115/116

brand-new spending authorizations approved, totaling $634.4M in stated amounts.

Development and land use

+95.8%

of the 263 land-use items where he is recorded were approved with his Yes
(rezonings alone: 90 of 94, +95.7%)

Development items follow the same pattern. Of the 252 land-use items where he is recorded — rezonings, special exceptions, comprehensive-plan amendments — 241 were approved with his Yes. His eleven No positions are the exceptions that prove how rare an exception is: most were 3–2 outcomes where the item passed regardless.

Where he went on the record against — a sample

2023-07-12 — Rezone from OUE-1 (Open Use Estate, 1 unit/5 acres) to RSF-1 (Residential, Single-Family, 2.5 units/acre) [23-01] (north of Coash Road, east of Sweet Shade Drive, Sarasota) · 3-2 · passed anyway
2023-09-26 — Special Exception for a Day Care Facility in the RSF-3 (Residential, Single-Family, 4.5 units/acre) zone district [1859] (3059 Gypsy Street, Sarasota) · 3-2 · passed anyway
2023-10-10 — Rezone from CHI (Commercial Highway Interchange) with stipulations to CHI with amended stipulations [23-06] (385 Commercial Court, Venice) · 3-2 · passed anyway
2023-10-10 — Special Exception to allow a building height of 50 feet for a self-storage building in a CHI zone district [1869] (385 Commercial Court, Venice) · 3-2 · passed anyway

How the money he approved reaches your household

None of this money is abstract. Every dollar the board approved gets collected from the people who live here, and it arrives through four channels that all end at your address:

Property taxes. The millage rates adopted each year, multiplied by your home's rising taxable value.
Fire and EMS assessments. Separate charges on the same bill, adopted annually by the same five people.
Fees and rates. Trash, water, sewer, and stormwater all rise without ever appearing on a referendum.
The cost of living. Landlords, grocers, and service businesses pay these same taxes and fees too, then pass them through to rents and prices.

There is no outside party who covers it. Whether you own, rent, or shop here, a share of the bill above is yours.

The full household-cost breakdown →

Check every line yourself

Every figure above comes from the board's own minutes — 1,050 recorded roll calls from December 2022 through August 2026 — and the county's audited financial reports. Nothing here requires you to take our word for it.

The full ledger, all 1,050 roll calls Data & Sources