As a result of a freedom of information request with the Town of Fort Myers Beach we’ve received the mooring field financials for 2015 to 2019. Over those 5 years Fort Myers Beach taxpayers have subsidized the mooring field by contributing $157,363 to the operation.
How the mooring field operates has come under scrutiny lately, after Finance Director Joe Onzick told the Anchorage Advisory Committee Fort Myers Beach residents have subsidized the mooring field every year but one. Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt has been pushing town staff for years to get the mooring field operation to break even. He reiterated that position Sunday on Beach Talk Radio.
Last week we reported Onzick made public financial numbers that the previous Town Manager Roger Hernstadt would never share with the Anchorage Advisory Committee or the community. In several slides Onzick laid out how much the mooring field has cost taxpayers through the years and what it would take to get the operation to break even. By state law, the mooring field is not allowed to turn a profit. However, it is allowed to break even.
From the new financial documents, the mooring field operation was $96,861 in the red in fiscal 2015, $20,363 in the red in fiscal 2016, $16,512 in the red in fiscal 2017, $16,324 in the red in fiscal 2018 and $7,300 in the red in fiscal 2019. The biggest expense in 2015 was $88,000 for “Operations and Maintenance.”
Revenue from user fees for those five years was as follows: $145,233 in 2015, $164,549 in 2016, $178,679 in 2017, $168,019 in 2018 and $156,000 in 2019. The town also receives money for pump-out services and grant funds.
Between 2015 and 2022 Fort Myers Beach residents have subsidized the mooring field to the tune of $432,541. 2021 was the only year the mooring field did not lose money.
The mooring field is now open to 77 boats. The charge per mooring ball is $410.00 per month. Boaters are allowed to stay on a mooring ball for up to 6 months. The town says the benefit of having a mooring field is to be a town friendly to boaters, and, because boaters spend money at restaurants bars and retail shops on the island. Boaters do not otherwise pay any taxes to the town.
Onzick says a revenue replacement bridge loan from the state back in April of 2023 is helping to cover some of the recent revenue shortfalls for the mooring field. And, if the Governor signs the state budget on July 1st, money from $15 million the state is sending to Fort Myers Beach will also be used.
The town is currently without a Harbormaster to run the mooring field operation. However, a new hire from out of the area is expected to be announced soon.
For years the town has rented upland facilities for the boaters (bathrooms, laundry, etc) from Matanzas Inn. Over the years, the town has explored building a new upland facility. They considered several locations including Bayside Park (which local residents protested against vigorously) and behind the old town hall building. That lot, which the town purchased for $2 million several years ago, has sat empty ever since the purchase. Residents who live on Tropical Shores Way revolted against the idea of building upland facilities on that spot because a canal that shoots through their backyards would have been used.
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