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Council approves budget change, planning updates and flood-management items; pension COLA study ordered
Summary
Venice City Council members voted unanimously on several budget, planning and flood‑management measures on March 11, 2025, and approved directing staff to research a 1% pension cost‑of‑living estimate after public comment from police and fire retirees.
Venice City Council members voted unanimously on multiple ordinance and resolution items on March 11, 2025, approved annual reports from two advisory boards, and instructed staff to prepare a cost estimate for a 1% cost‑of‑living adjustment to the police and firefighter pension plans.
The council approved an ordinance to amend the comprehensive plan development data for mixed‑use land‑use designations (petition 24‑52 CP) and advanced it on first reading. Council adopted a final‑reading ordinance increasing the city’s 2024–25 budget revenues and expenditures by $500,000. The council also approved a resolution rescinding a temporary reduction of valuation‑based building permit fees established in 2022.
Council accepted annual reports from the Historic and Architectural Preservation (HAP) Board and the Planning Commission. It adopted the floodplain management plan yearly report, the local mitigation strategy project list update, and the program for public information/flood insurance promotion plan. During the floodplain discussion, the council directed the floodplain manager to submit a project sheet for a Flamingo Ditch watershed/feasibility project and add it to the Local Mitigation Strategy project list; staff were given a March 14 deadline to file the project sheet with the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council and related agencies.
On pensions, after a presentation from the finance director on preliminary buyout estimates, the council voted 6–1 to continue city administration of the existing police and firefighter pension plans and directed staff to return with the cost of a 1% COLA for each plan.
Other formal actions included approval of contract/administrative agenda (consent) items, authorization to order a commemorative plaque for the Union Missionary Baptist Church, and adoption of edits to the city’s logo/policy language (centennial/clock‑tower logo preservation).
