City of Venice building permit fee refunds to be mailed out next week

VENICE, Fla. (WWSB) - The City of Venice announced that partial refunds will be paid to anyone who paid the City a building permit fee in the past few years.

The City of Venice has experienced unanticipated and unprecedented construction activity over the past four years resulting in collecting more money in building permit fees than expected.

The state legislature recently amended Chapter 553 Florida Statutes to cap the amount of building fees local governments can carry forward from one fiscal year to the next. Florida law permits local governments to use funds in excess of the cap to reduce future building fees or pay refunds. As a result, the City of Venice decided to do both, reduce its fees, and pay refunds.

The partial refund will be paid to anyone who paid the City of a building permit fee in Fiscal Year 2019, 2020, 2021 or 2022.

City of Venice building permit customers will receive a refund if, in Fiscal Year 2019, 2020, 2021, or 2022 (Oct. 1, 2018, through Sept. 30, 2022), the customer paid for a building permit from the City. Refunds will only be made payable to the applicant who made the payment. Any claim you may have against the applicant for reimbursement is between you and the applicant. If your refund is calculated to be under $10, it will not be paid, and you are not eligible.

Refund amounts will be in proportion to the amount one contributed to the overage in a particular fiscal year. For example, if one paid $1,000 in permit fees in fiscal year 2022, their refund would be approximately $139.

Notification letters were sent to all applicants who are owed a refund of at least $10. Refunds will begin to be mailed on Sept. 20.

Visit https://www.venicerefunds.com/ for more information. The city is asking those affected to NOT contact the city with questions.