County recommends phasing out city stormwater services; staff to seek policy direction

Sarasota County public works staff told the joint meeting they have concluded the existing interlocal arrangement under which the county manages stormwater in the City of Sarasota is inconsistent with current service areas and recommended moving toward a transition so the city can assume responsibility.

Public Works Director and County Engineer Spencer Anderson summarized the county’s recent stormwater workshops, the 2022 change that expanded the county’s service area by roughly 87 square miles, and the county’s updating of its assessment structure. Anderson said the county’s service area before 2022 was 216 square miles, with the city covering about 25.2 square miles (about 12% of that area). He reported the city’s annual stormwater assessments total roughly $4,000,000.

Why it matters: county staff argued the county’s expanded maintenance responsibilities, separate capital assessment history and evolving regulatory expectations mean the interlocal should be reevaluated. Anderson said county staff’s current recommendation is to plan for the city to take back stormwater service, and presented two high‑level transition options: a single date cutoff (for example, fiscal year start) or a multi‑year geographic phase‑in (by ZIP code), with assessments and operations separated accordingly.

Staff emphasized these are preliminary options for policy direction rather than finalized plans. Anderson told the boards that county crews have expanded into newly added service areas since 2022 and that the county does not plan to transfer its equipment to the city because the county needs those assets to maintain the larger service area. He also said several large capital projects remain in planning or have benefitted from prior capital assessments; the county’s capital assessment program funded roughly $80 million in past projects and had no active capital assessments in place as of 2014.

Commissioners asked for more details about transition costs, staffing and equipment needs and raised concerns about county‑owned properties inside the city and how those would be handled. Anderson said staff will bring a formal discussion item back to the county board in the near term for policy guidance.

Ending: County staff asked for direction on the pace and form of any transition and for agreement to move forward with a formal discussion item that will include more detailed cost and operational analysis.