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Sarasota County will get a new $210,094,000 allocation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery to assist with recovery and mitigation efforts from Hurricanes Idalia, Helene and Milton and Tropical Storm Debby.The county created the Resilient SRQ program in 2023 to support Hurricane Ian recovery from the prior allocation of $201,535,000 in CDBG-DR funding. It assists the community in rebuilding homes, repairing infrastructure and addressing unmet needs from Hurricane Ian.

If you’ve ever wanted to skip the line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Hillsborough County Tax Collector’s office is granting your wishes. It...

The Charlotte County Property Appraiser is now accepting applications for partial 2024 property tax refunds if a residential improvement was destroyed or rendered uninhabitable for at least 30 days due to a catastrophic event (hurricane, fire, or other natural disaster).

Sarasota County administrators are stiff-arming recommendations from a stormwater consultant and plan to push another rate hike on residents despite a new audit showing the utility could have more than $70 million over the next five years without raising rates.Just two years after a substantial increase in stormwater environmental utility rates, Sarasota County staff is once again asking taxpayers to open their wallets to bolster water quality and flood protections ahead of future storms. The proposed tax increase comes as county leaders scramble to fill gaps in the stormwater system that last year left thousands of homes flooded in unsuspecting neighborhoods miles from the coast.A joint investigation by the Florida Trident and Suncoast Searchlight into the failures found the county ignored sediment buildup in Phillippi Creek, left key stormwater positions sitting vacant while work orders piled up and overlooked glaring system vulnerabilities noted by consultants years earlier. All contributed to a stormwater utility operating in disarray.

The leaders of two local counties tried Monday to resolve conflicts over new parking rules in the beachfront community of Boca Grande. But the two sides found very little to agree on about the parking situation.

Some counties are requesting extra money to cover the costs that will be incurred, including the mandate that ballot drop-off boxes be guarded by an employee of the elections office when in use.

The plan is for health departments in all 67 counties to have kits with two Narcan nasal sprays that can be administered without a health care provider.

Lee County school board members learned their current superintendent, Christopher S. Bernier, wanted to end his reign over the past weekend. In spite of knowing his intentions to no longer serve in Lee County at least past this fall's election, they seemed stunned by the suddenness. They then turned again to Ken Savage. He had been interim superintendent prior to Bernier's appointment in 2022.

The Lee County government is in the final stages of setting its $2.88 billion budget. That’s a 14 percent increase over the current budget.

The newly constructed roundabout at Buckingham and Gunnery roads is expected open to traffic later this week.