FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, August 4, 2026
CONTACT: Christina Johnson
Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) released its evaluation of the Broward Countywide Resilience Plan 2025, which will be scheduled for review and adoption at a future Board of County Commission meeting. FTW undertakes this review and analysis of the Plan at the request of the Broward Workshop.
The Plan as written is designed to provide the foundation for a basin-level, multi-decade resilient infrastructure and adaptation plan to make Broward County more resilient to the effects of sea level rise and increased surface level temperatures.
Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Jeff Kottkamp said, “Florida TaxWatch’s interest, as in all research, is to ensure the interests of the Broward County taxpayers are well-served. We believe that the recommended policies and strategies will, if adopted by formal action by the Board of County Commissioners and implemented, go a long way toward effectively mitigating the effects of sea level rise and increased land surface temperature.
“Flood control in South Florida is a shared responsibility between the South Florida Water Management District, counties, municipalities, local drainage districts, and homeowners’ associations. Florida TaxWatch understands the difficulty of planning 45 years into the future and commends Broward County for undertaking such an ambitious but necessary planning effort.
“The formal adoption of the near-term implementation strategy by the Board of County Commissioners in June 2026 helps to make the Plan more actionable and should give Broward County taxpayers greater comfort that the Plan will work.”
Florida TaxWatch primarily focused on answering the below questions, resulting in the following analysis:
• Is the Plan based on relevant and appropriate data and analysis?
• Does the Plan identify specific and measurable benchmarks that, if achieved, mark progress toward making Broward County more resilient to the effects of sea level rise?
• Are the policies and strategies identified in the Plan likely to make Broward County more resilient to the effects of sea level rise?
• Is the Plan financially feasible?
• Are roles and responsibilities for implementing the Plan clearly defined?
• What is the legal force and effect of the Plan?
The Plan’s strength lies in its data and analysis. The hydrologic and hydraulic flood modeling and urban heat analysis provide a data-driven foundation for Broward County’s resilience planning. The outputs from this modeling form the basis for the adaptations contained in the Plan and serve as the inputs for the economic modeling used to estimate future flood and heat damage.
Basing the Plan on what Broward County would look like in the future if no actions were taken to protect and enhance its resilience provides a benchmark against which potential investments can be measured. The near-term implementation strategy adopted by the Board of County Commissioners in June 2026 identifies 263 Tier 1 capital improvements planned to be implemented over the next 15 years. The Plan includes a number of strategic planning checkpoints that will allow the county to periodically assess and refine the policies and capital investments contained in the Plan. These strategic planning checkpoints have been earmarked for 2032, 2040, 2048, 2056, 2064, and 2070. When the county reviews implementation of the Plan at the first (2032) checkpoint, it will be able to review latest projections, track progress toward implementing the Tier 1 capital improvements, and update the Plan accordingly.
Until adopted by formal action of the Board of County Commissioners, the policies and strategies identified in the Plan have no apparent force and effect. To implement the Tier 1 and Tier 2 adaptations, the Plan “recommends for review and consideration” 19 policy strategies. To ensure the equitable treatment of diverse socioeconomic residences in the county, the Plan “recommends” eight continued community economic strategies. The Plan “recommends” that the county quantify and track several key performance indicators to understand the effectiveness of green infrastructure. The Plan combines engineered solutions (e.g., seawalls, drainage system upgrades, etc.) with natural solutions (e.g., swales, green spaces, etc.) to protect critical infrastructure, manage stormwater, and reduce urban heat.
The Plan, as written, appears to be economically feasible. The county deems a project to be economically feasible if the present value of its benefits is greater than the present value of its costs. The project study period for which the Plan evaluated economic feasibility is 2025 to 2125, which includes the construction and operation of Tier 1 and 2 investments over a 101-year period. Using the Vivid Adaptive Regional Input Output (V-ARIO) economic model to model the economy-wide impact of flood events, the Plan concludes that the Tier 1 and Tier 2 investments are determined to be economically feasible, as shown by their net present values, return on investment, and benefit-cost ratios.
The adoption of the near-term implementation strategy by the Board of County Commissioners has largely assuaged concerns about the Plan’s financial feasibility. Although not physically a part of the March 2025 Plan, and in response to Florida TaxWatch’s initial comments on the Plan’s financial feasibility, the Broward Board of County Commissioners on June 9, 2026, approved a “near-term implementation strategy” designed to implement 263 identified Tier 1 stormwater conveyance projects over a 15-year period. Broward County will offer financial incentives in the form of grants to local governments for the construction of the recommended improvements. Broward County will establish a $20 million annual grant program, funds from which will be leveraged (5-to-1return on investment) to generate $100 million annually. Over 15 years, this translates to $1.5 billion in capital improvements funding.
It is unclear how Broward County will coordinate implementation of the Plan with surrounding counties and municipalities. The Plan states that “[F]lood control in South Florida is a shared responsibility between the South Florida Water Management District, counties, municipalities, local drainage districts, and homeowners’ associations.” The specific roles and responsibilities for each of these entities in implementing the Plan are not well-defined, so the answer to the question “who does what?” is unclear.
The implementation strategy adopted by the Broward Board of County Commissioners on June 9, 2026, sheds some light on how the capital improvements identified in the Plan will be coordinated. This strategy includes establishing a $20 million annual grant program through which local government partners may submit proposals for funding for Tier 1 capital improvements projects. Broward County staff will administer the program and manage and track the estimated 263 capital improvements projects.
To learn more and access the full report, please click here.
About Florida TaxWatch
As an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog and taxpayer research institute, and the trusted “eyes and ears” of Florida taxpayers for more than 47 years, Florida TaxWatch (FTW) works to improve the productivity and accountability of Florida government. Its research recommends productivity enhancements and explains the statewide impact of fiscal and economic policies and practices on taxpayers and businesses. FTW is supported by its membership via voluntary, tax-deductible donations and private grants. Donations provide a solid, lasting foundation that has enabled FTW to bring about a more effective, responsive government that is more accountable to, and productive for, the taxpayers it has served since 1979. For more information, please visit www.floridataxwatch.org.
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