Final Town Budget Hearing is Tomorrow Night

On Wednesday night at 5:01PM the Fort Myers Beach Town Council will hold its final budget workshop and hear how staff plans to close a $300,000 budget shortfall to balance the budget. That’s where the financial situation was left following the first budget hearing 2 weeks ago.  

The Council will consider approving a millage rate of 1.0655, an increase of 3.4% over the current millage rate, 10% over the roll-back rate, and down significantly from the original not-to-exceed rate of 1.34, which would have been a 30% tax increase. Only 4 votes are needed to approve the lower increase. Anything above the 1.0655 will require a unanimous vote. 

The town’s budget shortfall started at $600,000. The town was facing that shortfall despite the fact that more money was already headed to the beach thanks to higher property valuations. Property values on Fort Myers Beach increased 8.52% over last year. The island went from $4.6 billion in total taxable value to just over $5 billion, generating an additional $346,462 in tax revenue for the town.  

The millage rate increase would cut the shortfall down to $300,000. Then, the council would need to approve cuts or raise fees to balance the budget. 

Some things the council will consider Wednesday night to make up the $300,000;
– Charging residents $65 for an annual parking pass, up from $50,
– Increasing a parking ticket from $100 to $150
– Charging a fee for anyone who pays their bills or tickets by credit card.
Those 3 items alone will generate approximately $285,000.

Also on the table:
– Adding 500 non-resident annual parking passes at $300 ($150,000)
– Special event permit increases ($10,000)
– Bay Oaks fee increases ($30,000)
– Mound House parking increase ($50,000)

A fee increase that has gotten a little more pushback, especially from beach businesses, is increasing the hourly parking space rate from $5 per hour to either $6 or $7 per hour. Going to $7 will generate an additional $1 million in revenue for the town. That would not only close the budget gap by hundreds of thousands of dollars, it would give McKannay flexibility to throw some money in areas that need it like permitting and code enforcement. 

A few fee increases that did not seem to go over to well, but remain in the proposed budget as of today are:
– Charging beach vendors an $8 fee for every beach chair and umbrella in addition to the annual license fee they pay the town.
– Charging each watercraft vendor $150 per vessel in addition to their $400 annual license fee.
– Charging parasail vendors $400 per vessel in addition to their $400 annual license fee. 
– Charging vacation rentals a $100 per-room fee, in addition to the $300 annual registration fee they pay.

Surprisingly the budget still includes $60,000 in revenue from a new pool. The final design for the new pool has not even been approved yet. On his strategic priorities list, McKannay would like to restore 9 frozen positions, including 2 full-time positions at Bay Oaks and 2 at the Mound House.

On the savings side here are a few tiems the town staff has included for the council to look at:
– Eliminating the 3.2% cost-of-living- adjustment for employees would save taxpayers $182,000
– Closing Bay Oaks would save $688,000 per year.
– Closding the Mound House would save $583,000 per year.
– Closing the Bay Oaks pool would save $458,000 per year.
– Not giving raises to employees would save $45,000.

The town’s rolled-back rate is .9687 per $1,000 of assessed property value (down from 1.0294 which is what taxpayers saw on their TRIM notice). By presenting a budget based on a millage rate of 1.0655, McKannay only needs two-thirds of the council to approve it. It is exactly 110% of the rolled-back rate. Anything over 1.0655 would have required a unanimous vote. If the council decides they want the budget to be based on the rolled-back rate McKannay would need to fill a budget gap of $767,000. 

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