The Sarasota County Commission authorized spending $91.8 million to cover the costs of storm recovery, primarily related to recovery costs after hurricanes Helene and Milton and Tropical Storm Debby impacted Sarasota County in 2024.
The budget amendment, which was unanimously approved during the June 17 workshop meeting on the 2026-27 budget, represented a substantial amount but was essentially a bookkeeping action required for the Sarasota County Clerk to authorize expenditures.
“This will allow us the budget authority to issue contracts, purchase orders and allow us to post those expenditures,” said Kim Radke, director of Sarasota County’s financial management office. “Budgeting for the expected FEMA dollars, state dollars and the county’s share also provides good fiscal planning and transparency within our funds.”
County Administrator Jonathan Lewis attributed the need for the motion to the recent string of severe storms.
“We haven’t had three storms in one summer or five storms in a relatively short period of time, so it’s never been a problem from a money perspective,” Lewis said, then later added, “but if we had two years in a row like that, that would be a real problem.”
How much money is Sarasota County waiting for?
Discussion of the action did give the board a chance to discuss the fact that Sarasota County is waiting on reimbursement for almost $269 million in storm-related expenses dating back to Hurricane Hermine in 2016.
Sarasota County has experienced eight declared disasters over the past decade, including hurricanes Hermine in 2016, Irma in 2017, Ian in 2022, Idalia in 2023, Debby, Helene and Milton in 2024 and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
All told, Sarasota County spent more than $352 million in response to those disasters, with only 12.5% of that, or $44 million, technically slated to come out of county coffers.
About $308 million should be reimbursed from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
So far, Sarasota County has received about $83.5 million in state and federal reimbursement and is waiting on another $268.5 million in funds.
The lion’s share of that is from 2024, with Sarasota County waiting on $53.9 million in reimbursement for Tropical Storm Debby-related costs, $17.6 million from Hurricane Helene and $116 million from Hurricane Milton.
For perspective, Sarasota County has received $3.67 million in reimbursements for Hurricane Hermine-related expenditures and is still waiting on $3.38 million in reimbursements.
Radke went on to explain that the typical FEMA reimbursement timeline is anywhere from two to five years, depending on the type and size of the project.
Earle Kimel primarily covers local governments in Sarasota County as well as land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. Follow him on Facebook, and X. He can be reached by email at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota County awaits $269M in storm reimbursements
Reporting by Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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By Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune | USA TODAY Network
