VENICE – The Venice City Council wants to allocate money in the 2025-26 budget to hire six new firefighter/paramedic positions, which will allow the addition of a fourth ambulance on around-the-clock call.
That was the only substantial change the council made in the emerging budget, following a day-long workshop on the proposed $172.5 million spending plan for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
A 4.5% increase in property tax values this year is expected to bring in about $1.2 million in new revenue from property taxes for the budget. The current tax rate of 3.9041 mills would generate about $28.5 million of the city’s $58.9 million general fund budget.
Overall, expected revenue for the 2025-26 budget is $162.8 million, which means the city will need to use reserves for about $10 million to balance the budget.
Part of that money is needed because Venice is making a $5 million payment to Sarasota County as part of the parks maintenance agreement calling for the county assume ownership of Wellfield Park, which will be renovated according to the county’s regional park plan.
Why does the city need to hire six firefighter-paramedics?
Assistant Fire Chief Kyle Hartley, explained that increased call volume means that Venice Fire Rescue – which took over ambulance service within city limits from Sarasota County in October 2020 – needs to add a fourth 24/7 ambulance to maintain the level of service promised to city residents.
With existing personnel, the city could operate the additional ambulance daytimes only about twice a week.
“It depends on staffing with vacations and sick time and how that goes,” Hartley said.
A mutual aid agreement with Sarasota County means that ambulances will still respond to emergency calls but because those ambulances are coming from farther away, response could be delayed by as much as three minutes.
“Three minutes is a lifetime for someone who has an issue,” noted City Manager Ed Lavallee, who also said that the improved response was one reason Venice took over ambulance service.
The city received about 9,000 EMS calls in 2024 and is on track to exceed that total in 2025.
It would cost about $780,000 to hire the six new firefighter-paramedics.
Lavalle noted that, with each tenth of a mil generating $731,000 in new revenue, a property tax increase of 0.1067 mills would cover the cost of staffing that fourth ambulance around the clock.
The board – especially Council Member Ron Smith, who said he wants to see the city cut the millage rate – did not commit to that.
Instead, the council contemplated covering some – if not all – of the cost by reducing the contribution slated for the fire pension fund, which currently is at least $1 million more than immediately needed.
No final decisions were made on that or other budget items. That would likely come in September, before final budget approval.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Venice to add six firefighters to 2025-26 fiscal year budget
Reporting by Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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