About the Author: Derek Gilliam | Suncoast Searchlight
Sarasota commissioners weigh cheaper jail plan that buys only a decade of relief
For years, Sarasota County has struggled with a problem it has yet to solve — a jail built for 773 inmates that now holds well over a thousand. Hallways double as sleeping quarters. Inspections [...]
Sarasota County budget talks end with few cuts, $600K school bill on the horizon
Despite tough talk from Sarasota County commissioners, this year’s final budget workshop ended with little progress on curbing spending. Commissioners met Tuesday where they spent four hours in a cramped room hearing constitutional officers [...]
Facing looming budget crisis, Sarasota County Commissioners still seek major cuts
Last month, Sarasota County commissioners directed Administrator Jonathan Lewis to work with constitutional officers to find the cuts needed to halt a looming shortfall projected to sink county finances into the red within three [...]
Sarasota’s performing arts center stalls as other major cultural projects race forward
Seven years ago, Sarasota unveiled an ambitious plan for its bayfront — a reimagined 53-acre waterfront park crowned by a state-of-the-art performing arts center to replace the aging Van Wezel, funded equally by private [...]
Priced out: Suncoast renters now must earn $35 an hour to afford a two-bedroom
Tyler Gervasi moved out of his mother’s place about three years ago when the family relocated from Colorado to Sarasota, splitting rent with two other roommates at an apartment complex near University Town Center. [...]
Want a new home on the Suncoast? It likely comes with developer debt
When Suncoast Searchlight first revealed how real estate developers were using special-purpose governments to shift the cost of building new local communities onto future homeowners — while keeping control over how the money was [...]
Bright lights, no rules: Florida’s illegal gambling dens are hiding in plain sight
They light up U.S. 41 north of the airport with neon promises — flashing 7-7-7 and mounds of gold — on storefronts wrapped in dark tint. Up and down 14th Street in Bradenton, along [...]
Uncomfortable but necessary: Sarasota County reconsiders budget amid warnings
Sarasota County Commissioners will hold a newly scheduled workshop on Aug. 19 to reexamine the proposed $2.5 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2026 — a move that comes just days after Suncoast Searchlight [...]
Sarasota’s budget keeps growing. Can the county keep up?
More staff. New equipment. Better pay. Across four budget workshops — the final two held this week — Sarasota County leaders made their cases for the coming year. Nearly every department and constitutional office [...]
Sarasota County stormwater crisis sparks major shakeup after public trust erodes
Sarasota County leaders voted Tuesday to create a separate stormwater department — breaking it off from Public Works — just days after a joint investigation by Suncoast Searchlight and Florida Trident revealed systemic mismanagement [...]
Stormwater chief defends dredging permit and flood response, says he divided rainfall forecast by 3
Three days after a Suncoast Searchlight and Florida Trident investigation exposed critical mistakes by Sarasota County during Tropical Storm Debby, the county’s top stormwater official took to the lectern to defend his department. During [...]
Sarasota County officials downplayed flood risk. Tropical Storm Debby exposed their failures
. Tropical Storm Debby didn’t look like trouble. No hurricane-force winds. No mass evacuations. Just forecasts, quietly urgent, calling for historic rainfall. Sarasota County officials weren’t alarmed. Days before landfall, the public works [...]
