City Commission to discuss parking-ticket late fines Monday

The Sarasota City Commission on Monday will consider an increase in late fines for those who fail to pay parking tickets on time.

Under the proposed change, parking ticket violators would pay a $15 late fee each for each month a parking ticket is unpaid, for a maximum late fine of $45. The current parking program applies only a one-time late fee of $15.

Another change would allow the city to place a hold on the vehicle tags of certain parking violators who have failed to pay their ticket. In addition, Commissioners will also consider changes to the threshold of parking tickets before a boot is place on a car. The current threshold is perceived as hard-hitting, and so the city's parking department is recommending to modify the threshold under which booting takes place.

In other items, Commissioners will:
• Consider adoption of the second reading of proposed Ordinance No. 12-5001, to conditionally vacate that certain portion of the 50-foot wide Floral Lane right-of-way at the intersection of Osprey Avenue and US 41, where a P.F. Chang's Restaurant is to be constructed.

• A second public reading of proposed Resolution No. 12R-2300, certifying to the property appraiser and the tax collector of Sarasota County, the rates of millage to be levied by the City of Sarasota, for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2012; establishing the City of Sarasota's General Fund Operating Millage at 2.9249 which contributes to an aggregate millage rate for the City of Sarasota that is 0.89percent lower than the aggregate rolled-back millage rate of 3.0422; establishing the City of Sarasota's Debt Service Millage at 0.4276, etc.

• An update from Denise Kowal, founder and chair of the Sarasota Chalk Festival, on the event planned for S. Pineapple Ave from Oct. 28 to Nov. 6.

•  Adoption of Proposed Resolution No. 12R-2313, authorizing those properties within the portion of the Municipal Limits of the City generally described as bounded on the south by Fruitville Road, bounded on the east by Tuttle Avenue or the Municipal Limits of the City, bounded on the north by the Municipal Limits of the City or Myrtle Street plus additional properties northerly thereof adjacent to North Tamiami Trail and bounded on the west by properties adjacent to North Tamiami Trail to be included in the Energy Economic Zone as created by Sarasota County.

• A proposed resolution making a recommendation to the Boards of Trustees of the City's Firefighters, Police Officers and General Employees Defined Benefit Pension Funds that the assumed net rate of return on their respective Pension Fund Investments for Fiscal Year 2013-14 be set at a rate no higher than seven percent and for Fiscal Year 2014-15be set at a rate no higher than six and one half percent.