OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Venice City Council FY2026 Budget Workshop – June 19, 2025

City Council & Boards — Thursday, June 19, 2025
BodyVenice, Florida
SessionCity Council & Boards
DateThursday, June 19, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 6:48:32

Transcript — Verbatim
1:03

All right, let's call this meeting to order for our budget workshop.

1:06

And Madam Clerk, let's get us started with a roll call, please.

1:09

Mr.

1:09

Engelkey.

1:10

Here.

1:11

Mrs.

1:11

Frank.

1:12

Here.

1:12

Mr.

1:13

Howard.

1:13

Here.

1:14

Mr.

1:14

Smith.

1:16

Mr.

1:16

Weed.

1:17

Here.

1:17

Vice Mayor Boltz.

1:19

Here.

1:19

Mayor Pachetta.

1:21

Here.

1:21

And we will stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:27

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

1:35

One nation under God.

1:37

Individual liberty and justice for all.

1:44

With that, we will start with an introduction by City Manager Lavalle, and then we'll move on to finance.

1:51

Thank you, Mayor.

1:57

This workshop is uh a step in a process that is about eight months long to develop the budget and finally to adopt it.

2:06

Our process internally begins in January and will conclude with two public hearings in September.

2:14

If you didn't know, two hearings are necessary because our adopted budget is created in the form of an ordinance.

2:22

And all ordinances in Venice are require the review and uh approval by the city council twice.

2:30

So included in this eight-month budget development process uh is a strategic planning forum held in the spring of each year.

2:37

The council and the staff get together to discuss program priorities, updating the council's strategic goals, which have survived since I've been to 13 years, and uh refining short-term and long-term goals and targets.

2:52

By policy, major funding decisions are aligned with the council's six adopted goals.

2:59

And you may note that often a staff presentation to the council to make a major expenditure will have a reference to one or more of those council goals just to illustrate that the staff's work is aligned with the direction and priorities established by the council.

3:16

This is a challenging budget year.

3:18

A sharp decline and the growth of residential property values, which is the city's major funding source for the general operating budget, some slack in consumer spending, the residual impact of higher prices from COVID 19 supply chain conditions, all that is dramatically uh driven up the cost of municipal capital projects.

3:40

As an example, the capital project to build the new facility for the fire department on East Venice Avenue uh headquarters of fire station 52 was originally projected to cost about 12 million dollars.

3:54

Has virtually doubled.

3:55

In fact, we just received the contractor's GMP guaranteed maximum project cost, just under 25 million dollars.

4:04

That's an illustration of how change the changes in cost of materials and labor has rapidly uh uh grown and has put a lot of pressure on us for our major capital projects program.

4:17

The city's four collective bargaining units, the employee unions are currently in labor negotiations, all four of them.

4:24

Contracts would hopefully be um created for the next three years, but in the meantime, we don't have an exact exact cost of those uh the salaries and the benefits, so we've established a um a placeholder for salaries and benefits for employees, but it's yet to be uh refined.

4:43

This is not unusual.

4:44

We often run the contract negotiations go beyond uh the the budget uh period and res refined at some point in the future, but so that's where we are.

4:56

All four contracts expired this year.

5:00

In the past two fiscal cycles, the issue of fund balance, cash reserves has been discussed uh rigorously to uh scrutinize how much money the city should hold back, how much we should save for whatever unforeseen opportunities or emergency conditions, long-term strategic projects.

5:18

Well, the last couple of years have given us pretty good illustrations of the value and the need for all of those things.

5:26

By the way, we just received confirmation from FEMA that we would be getting $3.8 million in fund uh uh uh return recovery from Hurricane Ian, 2022.

5:42

So among the expenses we experience, some of these emergencies unforeseen, even if they're protected by insurance or FEMA, there's no telling how long it will take to get that reimbursement, and if so, uh what it will be.

5:57

And a lot that to a large extent depends on what other costs FEMA has across the country, what percentage we'll receive back.

6:04

So it uh it's just an illustration of how important it is that to uh have have that reserve.

6:11

One of the other benefits is for opportunities, and since I've been here, the city has been very fortunate.

6:17

I think we're batting a thousand on the opportunities to acquire land.

6:22

We bought a piece of property uh on the intersection of uh Auburn Road and East Venice Avenue.

6:30

If we elect to build a new water plant in the future, that's a site, not necessarily for that purpose, but um through the grace of the former property owner who had an easements across all of that land.

6:43

It was virtually unusable because although it could be acquired, it couldn't be built on.

6:49

But because uh we're a municipality and the uh owner felt some compassion for us, he removed all of the easements.

6:56

So we bought eight acres of prime property for a very low price for future municipal development.

7:03

So that's that has been our luck.

7:05

We bought the property across from the solid waste recycling current site um on seaboard of a uh concrete plant, it was a great opportunity for us.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Budget Equity Analysis█████████████████████████████29%
Public Safety█████████████13%
Public Engagement████████8%
Airport Management████████8%
Personnel Matters█████5%
Fiscal Sustainability████4%
Technology and Innovation████4%
Stormwater Management████4%
Fleet Management███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Venice City Council FY2026 Budget Workshop – June 19, 2025

The Venice City Council held a day-long budget workshop on June 19, 2025, from 8:30 AM until after 5:00 PM, to review the proposed FY2026 budget. City Manager Ed Lavallee opened with an overview of challenges: declining property value growth, rising capital project costs (e.g., the new fire station nearly doubling to $25M), and ongoing labor negotiations with all four collective bargaining units. Finance Director Linda Senne presented the citywide budget, noting a 4.5% increase in property values, a maintained mill rate of 3.9041, and planned rate increases for water/sewer (3%), stormwater (to $8.55 per ESF), and solid waste (3%). The workshop featured departmental presentations, extensive council discussion, and consensus on key policy directions.

Discussion Items

  • Citywide Overview & CIP: Linda Senne detailed the citywide budget, including a new sidewalk capital projects fund, personnel additions (one parks and one solid waste position), and a new financial management policy (Policy #12) for emergency financial plans. Discussion focused on reserve levels, interest income projections (budgeted conservatively at $875,000 vs. recent actuals averaging $1.75M), and the rolled-back millage rate (estimated at ~3.73). Council Member Smith advocated for rolling back the tax rate to avoid an ad valorem tax increase, while others emphasized maintaining reserves and service levels.

  • Fire Department – Staffing Request: Chief Frank Giddens and Assistant Chief Kyle Hartley requested six dual-certified firefighter/paramedics (cost $780,000) to staff a fourth 24/7 ambulance, addressing increasing EMS call volume (9,000 calls in 2024) and reducing reliance on county mutual aid. After debate, the council gave consensus for staff to analyze funding sources, including possible reduction in the discretionary $1M fire pension contribution (above the $1.8M ARC) and anticipated transport fee revenue (~$200,000). Council Member Smith deferred final approval until funding was identified.

  • Public Works & Fleet: Director Ricky Simpson presented on the lean department. Discussion included contracting vs. in-house services, the fully funded fleet replacement program ($22M in reserves) that replaced 316 vehicles, and the upcoming Civic Center operations (likely to be contracted out). Council Member Engelke praised the fleet program as a 10-year initiative.

  • Police Department: Chief Andy Leisenring discussed civilianization of a training manager position, overtime costs, and the use of law enforcement impact fees. Council asked about the opioid remediation fund and potential uses. No major changes were proposed.

  • Engineering & Stormwater: Acting City Engineer Jon Kramer reported that the Army Corps of Engineers beach renourishment (Venice segment) will be 100% federally funded, saving the city approximately $3M originally budgeted. He updated on the Flamingo Ditch study (five concepts under review) and the sidewalk on Bay Shore Laguna (paused pending safety study).

  • Planning & Historical Resources: Director Roger Clark presented on the CBOR master plan (budgeted at $250,000, timing questioned by council), tree mitigation funds, and a new AI-based plan review software. Historical Resources Manager Harry Clinton detailed centennial activities and a grant-funded Golden Beach historical survey.

  • Information Technology: Director Roger Navarro highlighted a $115,000 one-time cost for an ADA-compliant website and increased cybersecurity monitoring. The IT budget rose to $1.8M, driven largely by software licensing and enterprise systems.

  • Human Resources: Director Alan Bullock reported a low voluntary turnover rate (5.87% year-to-date, below national average). Discussion included self-insured workers' compensation and health funds, centralized union negotiations, and potential savings from unused council cell phones.

  • City Attorney: Kelly Fernandez provided litigation updates: a tentative settlement in the GCCF/Sharky's case to be presented to council, and coverage by the Florida League of Cities for the Lynch lawsuit (flamingo ditch), resulting in no city out-of-pocket expenses.

  • City Council & Clerk: Clerk Kelly Michaels presented. Council discussed the feasibility of evening meetings (previous trial had low attendance) and potential savings from eliminating unused council landlines (approximately $20/month per line).

  • City Manager: Ed Lavallee discussed merit pay, zero-based budgeting, and staff turnover. Council Member Howard proposed a future zero-based budget review to validate staffing and equipment needs.

  • Building Department: Director Derek Applegate reported a 62% decline in inspections due to private provider use. The department's reserve ($1.3M) is below the state's $4M cap. Performance metrics for state-required turnaround times were lower due to hurricane recovery workload.

  • Airport: Director Mark Cervasio addressed mobile home park rents (not increased since 2022, now being reviewed by a new management company), hurricane repairs (slow due to procurement requirements), and the new admin building with a GMP of $9.7M vs. $7M budget. Council questioned the $2.8M in FAA-restricted funds and the need for improvements to the road to the festival grounds.

  • Utilities: Director Javier Vargas confirmed that no reclaimed water had been discharged into the creek since 2017 until a permitted release after Hurricane Milton.

Key Outcomes

  • Consensus for Firefighter Positions: Council directed staff to analyze funding sources for six additional firefighter/paramedics, with the expectation of a recommendation for the final budget. Potential sources include reducing the discretionary fire pension contribution (from $1M to $700,000) and anticipated transport fees.
  • Policy #12 Adopted: Council reached consensus to adopt Financial Management Policy #12 (Emergency Financial Plan), amended to require city council approval for any borrowing or other initiatives.
  • No Public Comments: No members of the public addressed the council during the designated audience participation period.
  • Directives for Further Analysis: Staff will continue to refine revenue projections (including impact fees and interest income) and explore potential savings identified during the workshop (e.g., council cell phones).
  • Continuation: The workshop concluded without a need to reconvene the following day.

Meeting Transcript

All right, let's call this meeting to order for our budget workshop. And Madam Clerk, let's get us started with a roll call, please. Mr. Engelkey. Here. Mrs. Frank. Here. Mr. Howard. Here. Mr. Smith. Mr. Weed. Here. Vice Mayor Boltz. Here. Mayor Pachetta. Here. And we will stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. One nation under God. Individual liberty and justice for all. With that, we will start with an introduction by City Manager Lavalle, and then we'll move on to finance. Thank you, Mayor. This workshop is uh a step in a process that is about eight months long to develop the budget and finally to adopt it. Our process internally begins in January and will conclude with two public hearings in September. If you didn't know, two hearings are necessary because our adopted budget is created in the form of an ordinance. And all ordinances in Venice are require the review and uh approval by the city council twice. So included in this eight-month budget development process uh is a strategic planning forum held in the spring of each year. The council and the staff get together to discuss program priorities, updating the council's strategic goals, which have survived since I've been to 13 years, and uh refining short-term and long-term goals and targets. By policy, major funding decisions are aligned with the council's six adopted goals. And you may note that often a staff presentation to the council to make a major expenditure will have a reference to one or more of those council goals just to illustrate that the staff's work is aligned with the direction and priorities established by the council. This is a challenging budget year. A sharp decline and the growth of residential property values, which is the city's major funding source for the general operating budget, some slack in consumer spending, the residual impact of higher prices from COVID 19 supply chain conditions, all that is dramatically uh driven up the cost of municipal capital projects. As an example, the capital project to build the new facility for the fire department on East Venice Avenue uh headquarters of fire station 52 was originally projected to cost about 12 million dollars. Has virtually doubled. In fact, we just received the contractor's GMP guaranteed maximum project cost, just under 25 million dollars. That's an illustration of how change the changes in cost of materials and labor has rapidly uh uh grown and has put a lot of pressure on us for our major capital projects program. The city's four collective bargaining units, the employee unions are currently in labor negotiations, all four of them. Contracts would hopefully be um created for the next three years, but in the meantime, we don't have an exact exact cost of those uh the salaries and the benefits, so we've established a um a placeholder for salaries and benefits for employees, but it's yet to be uh refined. This is not unusual. We often run the contract negotiations go beyond uh the the budget uh period and res refined at some point in the future, but so that's where we are. All four contracts expired this year. In the past two fiscal cycles, the issue of fund balance, cash reserves has been discussed uh rigorously to uh scrutinize how much money the city should hold back, how much we should save for whatever unforeseen opportunities or emergency conditions, long-term strategic projects. Well, the last couple of years have given us pretty good illustrations of the value and the need for all of those things. By the way, we just received confirmation from FEMA that we would be getting $3.8 million in fund uh uh uh return recovery from Hurricane Ian, 2022. So among the expenses we experience, some of these emergencies unforeseen, even if they're protected by insurance or FEMA, there's no telling how long it will take to get that reimbursement, and if so, uh what it will be. And a lot that to a large extent depends on what other costs FEMA has across the country, what percentage we'll receive back.

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