Workshop on Proposed Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget – July 28, 2026
Workshop on Proposed Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget
The Sarasota City Commission held a budget workshop on July 28, 2026, from 9:00 A.M. to 3:16 P.M., with a lunch break from 12:00 P.M. to 1:31 P.M. The workshop focused on Enterprise Funds, Internal Service Funds, Trust Funds, and the Five-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Fiscal Year 2026-2027. No formal votes were taken; the workshop was for discussion and direction setting. The proposed total CIP for FY2026-27 is $104.4 million, with a five-year total of $276 million excluding utilities.
Enterprise Funds
- Water and Wastewater Utility System: Proposed FY2026-27 budget: beginning fund balance $61,282,763; revenues $65,272,767; expenditures $62,866,307; ending fund balance $63,689,223. Director Verne Hall highlighted major capital improvements and a rate comparison showing the city in the middle of the pack. Commissioners discussed the 11-year rate plan and the need for a master plan update to 2055. No added personnel for FY2027.
- Bobby Jones Golf Complex: Proposed budget: beginning balance $2,151,212; revenues $5,245,970; expenditures $5,706,918; ending balance $1,690,564. The course is self-sufficient in FY2026 and projected to be so in FY2027. Commissioner Battie commended the team for turning the course around. Questions about pricing, rounds of golf (flat), and a suggestion to rent golf carts to non-ambulatory citizens for the nature park were discussed.
- Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall: Proposed budget: beginning balance $10,023,551; revenues $18,700,275; expenditures $19,087,394; ending balance $9,636,432. Executive Director Mary Bensel discussed challenges including three hurricanes, insurance increases, and the need for capital improvements. Commission discussed overtime costs, especially for police security, and plans to close the hall from May to September for infrastructure upgrades.
- Solid Waste Management: Proposed budget: beginning balance $8,481,945; revenues $18,306,518; expenditures $20,253,603; ending balance $6,534,860. Director Nikesh Patel noted a $1 million reserve for future storm debris removal and an additional $500,000 to self-insurance. Discussion on recycling costs, potential composting savings, and the new reserve account beginning August 1.
- Parking Management: Proposed budget: beginning balance $1,309,127; revenues $6,603,770; expenditures $6,704,260; ending balance $1,208,637. Director Steven Cover presented plans for elevator replacements at State Street Garage (FY2026-27) and Palm Avenue Garage (FY2027-28), new enforcement vehicles, and license plate recognition systems. Commission discussed overtime discrepancies, wayfinding improvements, and the need for standardization in elevator vendors.
- St. Armands Paid Parking Area: Proposed budget: beginning balance $85,351; revenues $2,621,200; expenditures $2,543,116; ending balance $163,435. Clarified that citation revenue goes to citywide parking, not this fund. A loan of $1.4 million from the general fund is being repaid with a first payment of $245,000 in FY2026-27.
Internal Service Funds
- Fleet Services: Proposed budget: beginning balance $830,789; revenues $6,456,640; expenditures $5,929,080; ending balance $1,358,349. Discussed 99% fleet availability and that mechanics supply their own tools. Fuel purchased at 7% below retail.
- Information Technology: Proposed budget: beginning balance $163,504; revenues $6,575,000; expenditures $6,376,535; ending balance $361,969. Director Herminio Rodriguez noted a shift in performance measures. Mayor Trice raised frustrations with IT access (New York Times, email). City Manager Friling stated that performance measures are being enhanced across departments.
- Equipment Replacement Fund: Proposed budget: beginning balance $8,838,310; revenues $2,178,529; expenditures $1,629,334; ending balance $9,387,505. The fund allows departments to plan for equipment replacement. For FY2026-27, general fund contributions were reduced to maintain reserves.
- Self-Insurance Funds Combined: Proposed budget: beginning balance $5,654,521; revenues $18,604,176; expenditures $21,366,466; ending balance $2,892,231. Acting HR Director Dominique Anderson detailed subfunds: Workers' Compensation, General Fleet Liability, Law Enforcement Death Benefit, Group Medical and Dental, and Police Liability. Commission discussed the possibility of commercial insurance but staff concluded self-insurance remains beneficial.
Trust Funds
- Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB): Proposed budget: beginning balance $55,440,948; revenues $4,372,513; expenditures $9,471,189; ending balance $50,342,272. Over 200 retirees have moved to a fully insured Medicare Advantage plan, reducing claims on the self-insured Blue Cross plan.
- 401(a) Defined Contribution Plan – General Employees: Proposed budget: beginning balance $6,218; revenues $80,000; expenditures $75,334; ending balance $10,884. This covers administrative costs.
Five-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
- The proposed FY2026-27 CIP is $104,405,000, with a five-year total of approximately $276 million (excluding utilities). Major categories: Environmental Preservation & Sustainability ($56.8 million), Residents & Neighborhoods ($4.1 million), Growth & Development ($19.5 million), Operations & Administration ($4.6 million), City-Owned Facilities ($15.2 million), and Parks & Recreation ($4.2 million).
- Director Patel noted that $2.2 million in Penny Sales Tax (Phase IV) funding originally for the Sarasota Performing Arts Center (SPAC) is being redirected to hurricane mitigation, with the SPAC funding shifted to future years. The project is on pause pending a referendum in November.
- Corrections: Elevator replacements were swapped – State Street Garage in FY2026-27, Palm Avenue Garage in FY2027-28.
- Commission went through the CIP item-by-item, discussing timelines, funding sources, and community impact. Key items included septic tank replacement, seawalls, dredging projects (Whitaker Bayou, Hudson Bayou), St. Armands resiliency, undergrounding power lines, neighborhood lighting, bridge maintenance, street reconstruction, bicycle routes, and affordable housing.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were cast; the workshop was for discussion and direction. The special meeting scheduled for 4:00 P.M. would set the preliminary millage rate and address specific budget issues.
- Directives: Staff to provide performance measures across departments, a dashboard for CIP project timelines, a report on the tree canopy grant status, and coordinate with county on St. Armands resiliency.
- Clarifications: The SPAC funding shift and parking garage elevator swap were acknowledged.
- Next Steps: The Special City Commission Meeting at 4:00 P.M. will include setting the millage rate and deciding on proposed additions (e.g., firefighter positions, neighborhood grants).
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. Welcome back to this uh Tuesday, July twenty-eighth, day two of the City of Sarasota budget workshop. I just silenced my phone, so I hope you will do the same if you haven't already done so. And when we left off yesterday, we were just about to begin enterprise funds, and I will invite uh director of uh financial administration, Kelly Strickland, to make her presentation. Um Commissioner Um Almer. Yeah, Albert is going to be joining us via Zoom. Okay. Okay. So she's working her way through. And we do expect Commissioner Batti, although he was under the weather yesterday also. So we will move forward. Thank you. Well, good morning. Welcome to day two of the budget workshops. So today we're going to start in your workbook on page three thirteen. And then the PowerPoint slide is twenty two. And if you take a look at your workbook real quick, on page three fourteen, I have a list of all of the enterprise funds. These funds they're called enterprise funds because they are supported by user fees. And we have four subfunds that make that the utility system. The revenue account, which is where the uh general operations for the water and the wastewater system occur. The renewal replacement and improvement account, this is where the capital projects are paid from. The general utility reserve account, that's where the reserves are are held, and then the interest and seeking accounts, which is where the debt service principal and interest are paid. These all roll up into one fund uh for water and wastewater. Just a big picture for water and wastewater system. They have a beginning fund balance of 61.2 million. Uh revenues are projected of 65.2 with expenditures of 62.8, leaving them an ending fund balance of 63.7. And with that, I'm gonna turn it over to um Vern. Go ahead. Good morning, Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Vern Hall, Utility Director. With me is Mark Nicholas, General Manager of Administrative Services, and Scott Woodard, General Manager of Operations. So do you want to do this? Uh, you want to talk about capital improvement? Yeah. Just go right into the we just wanted to highlight uh few things. Um our major capital improvements right now. We have about six million in RR and I on the water side that we're working on, about eight million on the wastewater side that are actively in progress. These are obviously valve replacements, water treatment plant rehabilitation, changing out pumps, motors, things like that. Uh you see the 10th and Orange Street roundabout and a boulevard of the art streetscape. That's in conjunction with those projects we want to be there before that work happens so that we can relocate any of our utilities, get them out of the way so that they can come in and do their work uninterrupted by any activities we would do. On the wastewater side, you see our annual sewer main rehabilitation. That's where we go out, do the cleaning, televising, and lining of those main lines. We have manhole rehabilitation, which we inspect the manholes and we line those. And annual lift station rehabilitation, that's where we go in, we do uh pumps, motors, wet wells, just make sure electrical panels, those components are functioning and up to speed. We have a portion of the wastewater comprehensive rehabilitation. You'll see that is in the R R and I. That's to help pay for the engineering costs for that project. Um then we have a 16-inch force main that we're replacing on 17th Street. These aren't all of the projects in our RRI, these are just some of the major ones that we wanted to kind of highlight, but there's typical continuous things that we're doing in the R R and I. This next slide is from our CIP. And of course, we have the water treatment plant that you all have heard about, the North 41 project, which I will point out we just started the final phase of that project.
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