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Sarasota County · The Revenue Side of the Spike

The Collection Plan: How They Get the Money Back

This site documents a spending-and-debt spike. A fair question follows: where, exactly, does the money come from? The answer is not hidden. It sits in the county's own adopted budget and its own FY2027-2031 financial plan, stream by stream. These five slides walk through it — the problem, the bill, the collection channels, what it means per family of four, and the lag that explains why the pain arrives after the spending did.

The problem

Spending and debt ran far ahead of the people paying for it

+99.4%

Growth in combined county spending + debt, FY2015-FY2025 — against +24.4% population growth.[1]

+46.9%

Net budget jump in the single year FY2023 → FY2024 — the heart of the spike.[1]

$1,634,780,383

Audited outstanding debt across the five local governments as of FY2026.[1]

Governments do not absorb costs; they route them. Every dollar of that growth has to be collected from someone, on a schedule, through specific legal instruments. The rest of this page is the county's own description of that routing.

The bill

The FY2026 budget already shows who pays

The FY2026 adopted budget totals $2,524,495,075.[2] Its major identified revenue streams, largest first — and note that five of the six are paid by residents, directly or through their rent, groceries, and utility bills:

The channels

Four instruments do the collecting

1. The property-tax escalator

The county holds its millage "flat" at 3.2273 — but under Florida's own TRIM law, that rate is 2.8% above the rolled-back rate, which makes it, by legal definition, a property tax increase.[4] The real work is done silently by taxable values:

  • FY2021+7.09%
  • FY2022+17.55%
  • FY2023+14.24%
  • FY2024+10.27%

Taxable value growth, per the certified rolls.[3] Same millage on a bigger base = more revenue, no vote on a "tax increase" required.

2. The utility rate schedule

Water is up 6.4% plus a 2.23% index factor as of October 2025. Wastewater rises 5% every year through 2028 — approved once, collected annually. The ≈$337M Peace River expansion is recovered through the rate base, meaning through monthly bills.[5]

Utility revenue in the FY2026 budget: $178,217,902 — the second-largest stream on Slide 2.

3. Assessments and fees

Line items that appear directly on the tax bill regardless of home value: the stormwater assessment (average homeowner $143 — up about $31 this year), advancing fire assessment increases, the solid waste assessment, and $43,542,435 in impact fees folded into new-home prices and rents.[6]

4. Consumption taxes and pass-throughs

The 1% surtax and half-cent sales tax together collect $105,186,000 at the register — the same rate for a minimum-wage worker as for a millionaire. Layered on top: FPL's approved increases, ≈$6.9B statewide through 2029.[7]

The trickle-down

What the plan means per resident and per family of four

$5,177

FY2026 county budget per resident (487,640 residents) — $20,708 per family of four.[2]

$725

Property tax collected per resident — $2,900 per family of four, paid directly or through rent.[2]

$365

Utility revenue collected per resident — $1,460 per family of four, through monthly bills.[2]

$216

Sales taxes collected per resident — $864 per family of four, at the register.[2]

The bills a household can point to

The per-resident shares above are collection averages — they include what businesses and visitors pay. But a specific household can already price the direct lines. On a median $373,100 home with the homestead exemption, the county line alone is about $1,093/yr ($323,100 taxable × 3.3842 mills).[9] And the scheduled increases stack on top:

  • County water bill

    +6.4% plus a 2.23% inflation-index factor (Oct 1, 2025 (FY2026))[5]

  • County wastewater bill

    +5% per year, every year (Through Oct 1, 2028)[5]

  • Stormwater assessment (avg. homeowner)

    $143.20/yr — up about $31 (FY2026)[6]

  • FPL electric bill (typical 1,000 kWh)

    Rises to $136.64/mo in 2026; ≈$6.9B statewide through 2029 (Jan 2026 - 2029)[7]

  • County ad valorem levy

    +3.0% planned in the county's own financial plan (FY2027)[8]

For scale: the audited FY2025 county-only share of spending plus debt was already $20,087 per family of four — up $7,561 from a decade earlier. Stack all five local governments and the FY2026 figure is $41,680.[1]

The lag

Why the bills arrive after the spending did

This is the mechanism the site's white paper calls the lag-lead effect. A government adopts a budget in one year, issues the debt in the next, and collects from residents over the years that follow. The three phases are all now on the public record:

  1. 1. Spend

    FY2023 - FY2024

    The net budget jumps 46.9% in a single budget year. The decade's combined spending-and-debt growth reaches 99.4% against 24.4% population growth.[1]

  2. 2. Borrow

    FY2024 - FY2026

    Outstanding debt reaches $1.635B across the five local governments. Debt service must be raised in cash before a single service is delivered.[1]

  3. 3. Collect

    FY2026 - FY2029

    Water +6.4% (Oct 2025). FPL increases begin (Jan 2026). Wastewater +5% every year through 2028. Ad valorem +3.0% planned for FY2027 — the year debt service hits $109.3M.[8]

Nothing in phase three is a projection. Every rate, assessment, and planned levy above has been adopted, approved, or published in the county's own financial plan. The collection is not a risk. It is a schedule.

Sources & footnotes

  1. [1]Sarasota County adopted budgets and ACFRs, FY2015-FY2025, as extracted and reconciled in this site's frozen corpus: combined spending + outstanding debt $1.228B (FY2015) → $2.449B (FY2025), +99.4%; population +24.4%; net budget +46.9% FY2023→FY2024; FY2026 five-government stack $3.447B spending + $1.635B audited debt. This site's fiscal record
  2. [2]Sarasota County FY2026 adopted budget: total $2,524,495,075; countywide ad valorem revenue $353,742,696 at 3.2273 operating mills (3.3842 with voted debt); utility revenues $178,217,902; infrastructure sales surtax $58,636,000; half-cent sales tax $46,550,000; tourist development tax $46,050,000; impact fees $43,542,435. scgov.net budget documents
  3. [3]Sarasota County taxable property value growth by fiscal year: +7.09% (FY2021), +17.55% (FY2022), +14.24% (FY2023), +10.27% (FY2024) — per the county's budget documents and the property appraiser's certified rolls. Countywide ad valorem collections across all local taxing authorities rose from ≈$1,015.85M (FY2021) to ≈$1,342.41M (FY2024), +32.1%. Sarasota County Property Appraiser
  4. [4]Under Florida's Truth in Millage (TRIM) law, the rolled-back rate is the millage that would raise the SAME revenue as last year from the same properties. Any rate above it is, by legal definition, a property tax increase and must be advertised as one. Sarasota County's FY2026 operating millage of 3.2273 is 2.8% above the rolled-back rate. Florida DOR — TRIM
  5. [5]Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners, FY2026 utility rates effective Oct 1, 2025: water +6.4% plus a 2.23% price-index factor; wastewater +5% per year through Oct 1, 2028; ≈$337M county share of the Peace River surface-water expansion recovered through the rate base. scgov.net public utilities
  6. [6]Sarasota County FY2026 stormwater assessment: average homeowner $143.20 annually, an increase of about $31 over the prior year (the board adopted a smaller increase than originally proposed). Fire assessment increases were also advanced for FY2026-FY2027. scgov.net
  7. [7]Florida Public Service Commission, Nov 20, 2025: approved FPL four-year settlement — base-rate increases of $945M (2026) and $705M (2027) plus solar/battery collections in 2028-29, ≈$6.9B cumulative; typical 1,000-kWh residential bill rises to $136.64 in 2026. Florida PSC
  8. [8]Sarasota County FY2027-2031 Preliminary Financial Plan: FY2027 gross budget $2.53B; ad valorem revenue planned +3.0%; debt service $109.3M in FY2027 alone. Data & sources
  9. [9]Median-home tax line, illustrative math shown in full: $373,100 median value − $50,000 homestead exemption = $323,100 taxable × 3.3842 total county mills = ≈$1,093/yr for the county line alone (school board, municipal, and district lines are additional). Median value per the white paper's footnote 12. White paper, fn 12