On Tuesday, after sending Assistant Library Director John Luckow back into the budget to look for more cuts, the Fort Myers Beach Library District Board vote to keep its 2027 millage rate at .1612 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation.
At its first budget public hearing the Fort Myers Beach Library Board voted to raise the millage rate from .1612 to .18, a 12% increase. Luckow was able to find another $110,000 to cut to keep the millage rate the same. $371,000 will still need to be taken from the Library’s reserves to balance the budget. The 2027 libary budget will be $1.178 million when the reserve is added.
The Library is its own taxing district, separate from the Fort Myers Beach Town Council, similar to the Fire Control District and Mosquito Control District.
In 2010, the libraray millage rate was 0.5989. In 2020 the rate was 0.3020. The rate has steadily declined over the years. In 2026 $416,163 was needed to balance the budget. In 2025, $364,359 was needed. Before that, for 11 years, the library added money to its reserve account, reaching a high of just under $6 million in 2024.
Watch the library board budget workshop meeting HERE.
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The Four(4) things this very small Bartier Island (FMB) does NOT need or can continue to afford, build / replace, or maintain are as follows :
– a Library 👎🏻
– a School of any kind 👎🏻
– a Community Pool 👎🏻
– Boat mooring for the homeless 👎🏻
* Barrier Island
And the Mound House!
For clarity, our total 2027 expense budget is $1,548,850.46.
Our income, including ad valorem taxes, is projected to be $1,178,029.27.
That leaves a gap of $370,821.28, to be pulled from reserves to balance the budget.
Chris King
Vice President, Library Board