At a special board meeting Monday, Lee County staff plans to recommend the millage rate for fiscal year 2025-2026 stay the same as 2024-2025. The current Lee County millage rate is 3.7623 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The two public hearings Lee County will hold on the budget are September 4th and September 16th at 5:05 p.m. in the Old Lee County Courthouse Commission Chambers Meeting Room. The entire annual Lee County budget is approximately $2.8 billion.
On Tuesday the Fort Myers Beach Town Council will consider a millage rate increase of .99 per $1,000 of assessed property value to 1.25, a 26% increase over the current fiscal year. The town’s 2 budget public hearings are September 11th and September 24th at 5:01 pm.
The reason town staff is giving for the increase is a $12 million bridge loan the town still has to pay back to the state. The money was given to the town by the state to help keep the town running after Hurricane Ian.
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Maybe Ed can ask Allers what is the plan for that lot. I have a feeling what is the plan but I won’t say it so my comment won’t be deleted. I’m very curious as to the plan. It’s OUR lot and OUR money that is sitting there.
So..when they sell the lot that the town hall was on…bingo the loan is paid….
My house has dropped 600K in value since Ian. My flood insurance is up $1,000, thanks to poor management, my homeowner’s is up $2700 more per year, and yet my assessment went up and the clowns in charge are acting like this is a good thing. It’s just a scam to raise our property taxes. Now they wanted to raise the millage? How about fixing this island so it doesn’t look like Baghdad and people will want to buy again on the beach? No more sand discussions, no more turtle light discussions, no more worrying about when they will move into their new Town Hall bldg. How about clean up this island and stop holding up permits?
BTW my flood insurance going up $1,000 is from losing the discount. It went up $1,800 after Ian.
The residents are like wells for money, at least that’s what HOA’s, FMB government, insurance, and FEMA think. There’s enough homes for sale, it’s not just the hurricane risk anymore.
I’d like to find out what Lee County would need to raise their rate if they took back control of FMB and we dissolved our bloated town government…..
The town should have relinquished the town the day after Ian. You can always reform the town after it’s all fixed. This is a monumental task that no local government can handle. Not sure even county could but at least you have more staff and avenues for revenue.
No one that is not a home owner/property owner should be allowed to vote on something that raises the taxes for the homeowners.
So when the town received the 12M, no body at that time thought about how to repay it. Or this is theyre plan , wait a few years and let someone else pay !
The Finance Director, Joe Onzick, did think of how it would be repaid. In fact, when the town received a 7.9mil appropriation from the Federal Government for lost revenue, Joe had the foresight to set that money aside and hold it for repaying the bridge loan. The Town is VERY luck Joe is coming back to work because he will make sure the finances remain in good standing.
So..when they sell the lot that the town hall was on…bingo the loan is paid….