SARASOTA — The revenue the county collects from taxpayers for stormwater management is enough to fund a state-of-the-art system, but the infrastructure hasn’t been upgraded or expanded in 20 years, according to engineer Steve Suau.
A 40-plus year resident of the county, Suau is a former manager of the county’s watershed management program.
Speaking to a meeting of the Sarasota Citizen Action Network at the Selby Public Library, he said he was contacted by Spencer Anderson, the county’s Public Works director, after Tropical Storm Debby to consider doing a review of the county’s handing of the weather event.
Suau said he agreed to do it, but for free, so it wouldn’t appear that his opinions had been influenced.
The highest rainfall in Sarasota County from Debby — which would make landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida as a hurricane on Aug. 5 — was in the northern and eastern parts of the county, he said. The areas received an average of more than 13 inches over two days, with 83% of it coming in a 24-hour period.