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Record of Proceedings

Special City Commission Meeting – Budget and Millage Second Public Hearings – September 15, 2025

City CommissionMonday, September 15, 2025
BodySarasota, Florida
SessionCity Commission
DateMonday, September 15, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 47:19

Transcript — Verbatim
26:55

All right, everybody.

26:56

It is momentarily five thirty on September fifteenth, twenty twenty five.

27:03

This is a special city commission meeting regarding the budget second hearing, and I am going to call on the city owner and clerk for an invocation.

27:14

Please stand.

27:19

Okay.

27:20

Heavenly Father, we affirm our faith in thee.

27:22

We seek your divine strength, wisdom, and guidance in the deliberations that affect the lives of each of the citizens of our community.

27:28

In our name we pray, amen.

27:51

And are there any changes to the order of the day for tonight's meeting, Miss Briggs?

27:55

No mayor.

27:56

Okay.

27:58

Um do we have an approval of the proposed agenda schedule?

28:02

So moved.

28:03

Second.

28:03

All right, Commissioner Batti moved approval of proposed agenda schedule.

28:08

Uh Commissioner Ulrich seconded.

28:10

If you'll vote, Commissioners.

28:14

Is that your vote?

28:16

Motion passes unanimously.

28:19

All right.

28:19

Um, I ask the clerk to read the Pledge of Public Conduct.

28:23

Thank you.

28:24

We may disagree, but we will be respectful to one another.

28:27

We will direct all comments to issues we will not engage in personal attacks.

28:31

Okay.

28:32

Um and only public hearings tonight are on the budget.

28:40

Mayor, just so let's make the announcement there was no regular public comment first.

28:43

Yeah, yeah.

28:44

So I just wanted to yes.

28:45

Yeah, there's nobody here for the regular public comment.

28:49

Um, but we do have one person signed up to speak, so I figured before we even got into the uh public hearings on the budget, why don't we go ahead and you know he's speaking on item eleven one.

29:03

And I think at the let's also go ahead and do the oath first, and then let's go into the all right.

29:09

Anyone who plans to speak at any public hearing held tonight, please stand.

29:14

Or possibility to speak, please stand a note.

29:21

Okay.

30:16

Yeah.

30:18

You know, and and again, since we're just getting this, you know, I assume you you know we are not going to be able to look at this and read it.

30:25

I know, I'll tell you what's in it.

30:27

Okay.

30:27

Thank you.

30:28

It's highlighted.

30:28

For later.

30:29

Highlighted.

30:30

So it will be easy to follow.

30:31

Okay.

30:32

Um thank you, Madam Mayor, um, and commissioners.

30:35

Well, um, I guess I should say here we go again.

30:39

It's the same complaint about the budget that I had exactly a year ago when I shared with you a then recent um guest editorial I had written um for the um Sarasota Herald Tribune complaining about the fact that you don't do performance budgeting.

31:01

Bottom line is you don't put performance measures in the budget that you're about to adopt.

31:06

Um as you I've got several items in the handout, each page is numbered, and I'll quickly go through and tell you what it is.

31:14

Page one is from your the budget that presumably you're voting on to approve.

31:20

It says on um page 63, my first page.

31:25

Service level budgeting, the current service level continuation budget reflects all costs necessary to maintain city services at the same level as approved in the prior year, except you don't get to see any of those measures in this budget.

31:43

So it says it's a service level budget.

31:46

It is not.

31:47

Second page, uh, my second page, page 65 of the current proposed budget before you.

32:48

Um, for example, in my city it was if a street light was out and reported, it would be repaired within three days, 90 percent of the time.

32:57

That's a measure, whether you use that or three weeks or three months, whatever, that's a measure.

33:02

You don't have that before you.

33:04

Now let's look at last, well, the current actually the current year budget, the page four.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Budget Equity Analysis█████████████████████████████████████████████53%
Procedural████████████████████████28%
Public Engagement████████████████19%
Summary of Proceedings

Special City Commission Meeting – Budget and Millage Second Public Hearings

This special meeting of the Sarasota City Commission on September 15, 2025, was convened at 5:29 PM and adjourned at 5:49 PM. The sole purpose was to conduct the second (final) public hearings on six proposed resolutions certifying millage rates and adopting budgets for the City of Sarasota, the Golden Gate Point Streetscape Special District, and the Downtown Improvement District for fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025. All six resolutions passed unanimously (5-0). One member of the public provided testimony.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • John Mercer, a City resident, expressed concern that the Commission does not practice performance budgeting. He submitted a handout and stated that the proposed budget lacks performance measures (e.g., street light repair response times) and that staff later inserts such measures into the adopted budget solely to qualify for an award from the Government Finance Officers Association. He concluded by saying "See you next year."

Discussion Items

  • Staff Presentation: Financial Administration Director Kelly Strickland, joined by Budget Manager Tyler Harris, presented a PowerPoint overview of the six resolutions. She noted that the total proposed City budget is $303,575,000, a $2.1 million decrease from the previous year, and that the first public hearing was held on September 3, 2025.
  • Commissioner Ahearn-Koch briefly thanked staff for their work and expressed interest in further discussion on performance measurables, referencing the public comment.

Key Outcomes

All six resolutions were adopted on second reading by unanimous votes (5-0):

  1. Resolution No. 25R-3339 – City of Sarasota millage rates. (Note: The agenda and the reading of the title at the meeting set the General Fund operating millage at 3.2730 and the aggregate increase above the rolled-back rate at 12.95%. The meeting minutes, however, record the operating millage as 3.3000 and the increase as 13.87%, a discrepancy.)
  2. Resolution No. 25R-3340 – City of Sarasota budget appropriation.
  3. Resolution No. 25R-3341 – Golden Gate Point Streetscape Special District millage rates.
  4. Resolution No. 25R-3342 – Golden Gate Point Streetscape Special District budget appropriation.
  5. Resolution No. 25R-3343 – Downtown Improvement District millage rates (operating millage at 2.0000).
  6. Resolution No. 25R-3344 – Downtown Improvement District budget appropriation.

Meeting Transcript

All right, everybody. It is momentarily five thirty on September fifteenth, twenty twenty five. This is a special city commission meeting regarding the budget second hearing, and I am going to call on the city owner and clerk for an invocation. Please stand. Okay. Heavenly Father, we affirm our faith in thee. We seek your divine strength, wisdom, and guidance in the deliberations that affect the lives of each of the citizens of our community. In our name we pray, amen. And are there any changes to the order of the day for tonight's meeting, Miss Briggs? No mayor. Okay. Um do we have an approval of the proposed agenda schedule? So moved. Second. All right, Commissioner Batti moved approval of proposed agenda schedule. Uh Commissioner Ulrich seconded. If you'll vote, Commissioners. Is that your vote? Motion passes unanimously. All right. Um, I ask the clerk to read the Pledge of Public Conduct. Thank you. We may disagree, but we will be respectful to one another. We will direct all comments to issues we will not engage in personal attacks. Okay. Um and only public hearings tonight are on the budget. Mayor, just so let's make the announcement there was no regular public comment first. Yeah, yeah. So I just wanted to yes. Yeah, there's nobody here for the regular public comment. Um, but we do have one person signed up to speak, so I figured before we even got into the uh public hearings on the budget, why don't we go ahead and you know he's speaking on item eleven one. And I think at the let's also go ahead and do the oath first, and then let's go into the all right. Anyone who plans to speak at any public hearing held tonight, please stand. Or possibility to speak, please stand a note. Okay. Yeah. You know, and and again, since we're just getting this, you know, I assume you you know we are not going to be able to look at this and read it. I know, I'll tell you what's in it. Okay. Thank you. It's highlighted. For later. Highlighted. So it will be easy to follow. Okay. Um thank you, Madam Mayor, um, and commissioners. Well, um, I guess I should say here we go again. It's the same complaint about the budget that I had exactly a year ago when I shared with you a then recent um guest editorial I had written um for the um Sarasota Herald Tribune complaining about the fact that you don't do performance budgeting. Bottom line is you don't put performance measures in the budget that you're about to adopt. Um as you I've got several items in the handout, each page is numbered, and I'll quickly go through and tell you what it is.

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