That’s what state representative Adam Botana told the Fort Myers Beach Town Council Monday morning. Botana represents district 80 which includes Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, Estero and Bonita.
Botana told the council that there’s over $300 million set aside to help Florida residents impacted by Hurricane’s Ian and Nicole. He said $117 million of that total is for “this area,” which could include money for projects like a new town hall, beach renourishment, a fire station and turtle lights.
The money will be available as of July 1st when Governor DeSantis signs the budget. It will then be managed by the Florida Department of Emergency Management which is run by Kevin Guthrie.
Back in April Fort Myers Beach received an $11.9 million bridge loan from the state to help fund their local government operations. The town of Fort Myers Beach has submitted a request for over $50 million to the state to help with its rebuild. Some of the projects in the $50 million request, such as the new town hall and additional lights on Estero Boulevard may be part of the funds Guthrie eventually gets to hand out.
Many of those Fort Myers Beach projects submitted to the state have also been submitted to Resilient Lee, the committee Lee County Commissioner Kevin Ruane heads up. That committee has $1.1 Billion to spend on the rebuild, 70% of that money needs to be spent on moderate to low income housing. Ruane expects his committee to find additional funding to help the entire county rebuild from Hurricane Ian.