Marco Government Fails Again

There was a discussion at City Council concerning the Police Pension not being properly funded. The 2024 Audit Document CAFR states that the Police Pension Plan was underfunded by $2.6MM. The Police Pension Plan has been underfunded since FY 2022. The City has an Ordinance 19-03 mandating that the Police Pension Plan should be funded 100%. How can this failure occur when the City Manager, City Council, Police Pension Board, and Pension Administrator are overseeing the finances of the Police Pension Plan? It appears to me they were all asleep at the switch.

One answer is that the PREVIOUS City Council did not increase Ad-Valorem Taxes for 8 years, for which Councilor Palumbo voted three years not to raise Ad-Valorem Taxes. It is unfortunate that those City Councilors did not comprehend the ramifications of their decision not to raise taxes.

Not only did the previous Council underfund the Police Pension Plan, they also did not fund the BUCKET RESERVE ACCOUNT for $5MM year for INFRASTRUCTURE replacement on a CASH BASIS. Which now leads to a BOND REFERENDUM FOR $23MM to cover infrastructure needs.

MARCO ISLAND DESERVES BETTER!