Sarasota County Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2020

Major Initiatives - Annual Action Agenda The Sarasota County Strategic Plan outlines five key goals for the next five years. The annual action agenda has been developed to support the County’s strategic goals and to provide value to residents simultaneously. The action agenda lays out tactical action items to be prioritized within the Board Policy Agenda and the Administration. Sarasota County’s strategic planning process has resulted in a Board-directed strategic plan that has provided guidance to staff on actions to be considered in budget planning and agenda setting. In 2020, the Board adopted six top priority and high priority Board Policy Agenda items, to include: Top Priorities: • Future of County Administration Location • Medical Examiner / Coroner / Emergency Services Building • Mote Funding: If, Where, How • Affordable and Workforce Housing • Solutions to Ensure Wastewater at AWT Standards • Modern Mobility/Transit High Priorities: • Bay Park Conservancy • Sports Tourism Development Strategy: Goals, Best Practices, Report with Options, County Role and Direction • Progress on Design and/or Funding for “Gap” Roads • Road Resurfacing: Service Level Direction and Funding Increase Decision • Stormwater Policy and Management: Direction, Project Priorities and Funding Mechanism In addition to the Board Policy Agenda, Sarasota County also adopted an Administration Agenda for 2020 to include top, and high-level priorities. The County’s major initiatives have been summarized in the Action Agenda to include action agenda by goal, status, department, and action type. Awards and acknowledgements The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to Sarasota County for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019. This was the thirty-sixth consecutive year that Sarasota County received this prestigious award. In order to be awarded a Certificate of Achievement, a government must publish an easily readable and efficiently organized Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. This report satisfied both generally accepted accounting principles and applicable legal requirements. A Certificate of Achievement is valid for a period of one year only. We believe that our current Comprehensive Annual Financial Report continues to meet the Certificate of Achievement Program requirements and we will submit it to the GFOA to determine its eligibility for another certificate. In addition to being awarded the Certificate of Achievement, Sarasota County was issued the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for fiscal year 2020. This was the thirtieth consecutive year that Sarasota County received this award. Sarasota County and the Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller received the Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting (PAFR) recognition from the Government Finance Officers Association for its eighth consecutive IMPACT report for the year ended September 30, 2019. This Comprehensive Annual Financial Report is a product of the dedication of the Finance Department of the Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller of Sarasota County as Auditor and Accountant for the Board of County Commissioners. Recognition goes to: Tanya Copeland, Michael Dunlop, Eurides Furtado, 15