Sarasota County accepts $210 million in HUD disaster-recovery aid, delegates administration and adopts budget amendment

Sarasota County commissioners voted unanimously Feb. 11 to accept a direct Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) allocation tied to 2024 storms and to delegate authority to the county administrator (or designee) to manage the funds. The board also adopted Budget Amendment B2025-025 to appropriate $210,094,000 for the 2024 storms allocation.

Steve Hyatt, division manager for program management, said the new allocation (for storms referenced in the transcript as Debbie, Helene and Milton) adds to an earlier Ian allocation and puts the county in a position to manage roughly $411,000,000 in CDBG-DR funds overall. Hyatt explained HUD rules requiring that 70% of total funds benefit low- and moderate-income (LMI) households (80% area median income and below) unless an activity meets other national objectives such as urgent need or mitigation set-asides. He noted a 15% mitigation set-aside for resilience projects and caps on public services and planning spending.

Eligible categories Hyatt highlighted included housing (repairs, reconstruction, voluntary buyouts), infrastructure (water, sewer, stormwater, dredging/navigation), economic revitalization (loans/grants to impacted businesses and job training), public services and planning/feasibility studies. Hyatt said infrastructure projects can qualify proportionally for LMI benefit based on defined service areas and that HUD has tools and flexibility to count the percentage of beneficiaries within service polygons.

Staff reported an aggressive schedule to meet HUD deadlines: HUD’s applicability date starts days after Jan. 16, leaving roughly 90 days to submit an action plan, and the county expects the six-year expenditure clock to start once HUD executes the grant agreement. Hyatt described an outreach program that included an online survey (launched Jan. 27, closing Feb. 15), four public input meetings, stakeholder presentations and targeted engagement with nonprofits and business groups; county staff reported more than 1,094 survey responses in two weeks.

Commissioners asked whether septic-to-sewer conversions and dredging projects (navigation channels) could be funded; Hyatt confirmed such projects are potentially eligible if tied to storm impacts and national objectives. The board voted to delegate management and to adopt Budget Amendment B2025-025, with a unanimous voice vote recorded.