VENICE — After rejecting a request by Council Member Ron Smith to schedule another budget workshop, the City Council basically turned its meeting Wednesday into a budget workshop.
Though Smith’s request was voted down 6-1, the first item on the agenda was a presentation by Finance Director Linda Senne on changes made to the proposed budget since the June workshop, so Smith was able to put some of his issues on the table for discussion.
One was a 0.1441 mill reduction in the city’s property tax rate. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value, with 0.1 mill representing about $700,000, Senne said.
The reduction would take the tax rate back to where it was 10 years ago, Smith said, when the total taxable value of real estate in the city was $3 billion. Today, it’s $7.4 billion and the tax rate is higher, he said.
That has generated $10 million above expenditures that’s been added to reserves, he said, and the state considers it a tax increase.
Again, none of his colleagues backed him, citing the city’s needs and a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would increase the homestead exemption to keep up with inflation.
City Manager Ed Lavallee told the Council the accumulation of reserves was purposeful, listing anticipated expenses over the next few years above and beyond day-to-day operations:
Funding the replacement of Fire Station No. 2. The cost has more than doubled from the initial estimate, to about $25 million, he said.Being ready to pay the $5 million contemplated in the proposed new interlocal parks agreement with Sarasota County, in which the county acquires Wellfield Park and develops it as a regional sports complex. Another $15 million would be due over time as the remainder of the city’s financial contribution.Relocating Solid Waste and Fleet operations to a recently purchased property in North Venice. The Solid Waste fund will cover that department’s share but the remainder will come from the General Fund.Positioning the city for negotiations with the four unions that represent city employees as their contracts expire in 2026.
And that’s not considering the 70 new employees department directors have asked for, he said. That number was whittled down to 25, with 15 being included in the proposed Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget, he said.
The original draft the Council discussed in June didn’t propose any new hires, but Senne was directed to add the 15 — 12 in the police and fire departments — and bring back a revised budget after the summer break.
The hardest thing to explain to residents is the city’s reserves, Boldt said, but as projects come up, it either has to pay with available money or borrow and pay interest.
Even Council Member Rachel Frank, who successfully pushed last year for a tax cut, said she couldn’t do it this year, with the uncertainty around the homestead amendment.
Smith’s other pitch was for the city to find a way to help Venice Theatre in its recovery from Hurricane Ian. It’s about $16 million short of the money needed for its rebuild and, as a “heritage” city organization in “dire and extraordinary circumstances,” deserves support, he said.
The city has $2 million in unassigned funds in its 1-cent sales surtax fund, he said, and while he wouldn’t advocate giving the theater $1 million of it, a city contribution should be “in the six figures,” he said.
He noted the city had given millions from the fund toward the construction of the Venice Performing Arts Center on the Venice High campus years ago.
City policy currently caps a contribution to a nongovernmental entities at $5,000, Lavallee said.
Pachota said that his family supports the theater, and he’s a member of a committee helping with fundraising but he couldn’t support the city making a financial contribution when it hasn’t yet funded Fire Station No. 2, and no one else on the dais took up the cause.
The Council voted 7-0 to approve the changes to the proposed budget presented by Senne after voting down 6-1 a motion by Smith to include his suggested tax cut.
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