As the town of Fort Myers Beach contemplates increasing its millage rate by 26% for fiscal year 2026, and fill a $1.2 million budget shortfall, three town facilities are expected to operate at a combined $2 million deficit next year.
According to Fort Myers Beach Finance Director Joe Onzik, in fiscal 2026 which begins on October 1st, Bay Oaks will operate operate at a $1.1 million deficit, The Mound House will operate at a $645,000 deficit, and the town’s Marine Operations division, which includes the mooring field, will operate at a $359,000 deficit.
Bay Oaks suffered significant damage from Hurricane Ian in 2022 then got hammered again by Milton last year. It’s been closed for a large chunk of time since September of 2022 and it was just last week that the Bay Oaks fitness room opened up again.
The pool at Bay Oaks has been closed since Hurricane Ian and is still costing town taxpayers $12,000 a year. The town did receive grant money to fix the pool but the bid for repairs came in too high so they had to go out to bid again, further delaying repairs. When the pool will actually open is unknown. The town says the pool is a moneymaker for them.
Out of the 11 departments listed in Onzik’s budget slide presentation, 10 of them will operate at a deficit next year. The town is filling their $1.2 million budget shortfall from a $12 million bridge loan from the state. That loan must be paid back by 2033. It’s interest free until then.
Some of the revenue deficit blame has been put on the fact that with homes and condos destroyed by Ian, and the rebuild taking time, fewer people are living on the island. As a result, the town’s share of certain revenue streams is a lot lower than pre-Ian levels. That offsets the additional revenue ($671,000) the town will see from higher property values.
The biggest chunk of revenue the town will not see next year is $297,000 from the Public Service Tax (electricity, gas, water and telecommunication services). The State Communication Tax (local, long distance, and toll telephone services mobile communications, cable and satellite television) is projected to be down $258,000 next year. And the town will also see $127,000 less from the half cent sales tax.
No matter how you slice it, or try to justify how small a 26% tax increase is every month, Fort Myers Beach residents are going to pay more heading into 2026. Property values on the beach were up so right out of the gate property owners will be assessed at a higher number than 2025 and pay more taxes toward every line on their tax bill. As we’ve reported, the town of Fort Myers Beach is considering a 26% increase in their millage rate. And, eventually if the town wants to get Bay Oaks and The Mound House operating a little more efficiently, fees will go higher.
Onzik said it’ll most likely take until about 2028 for the town to get out of annual operating deficits.
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Everyone knows the mayor and council monitors these posts. All 5 of you had better read between the lines because you will be the reason the residents vote to return to the county. You might want to become more resourceful in how to raise your revenues. Nothing matters except what the voters of this island desire. From what I hear and see, you have just about spent your last dollar from the town you had 3 years to operate within a budget acceptable to the residents not just the owners. Most of the rebuilding is for rental and secondary homes. No matter how big their investment in the town is, they have no voting power.
Watching the M&P meeting, I still wonder about TOTAL headcount and payroll . They talk about having reduced the GENERAL fund employees by 18FTEs last year and 1+ FTEs this year, but then they make mention of moving FTEs into different funds. I understand why they allocate FTEs for accounting reasons, but as a resident, I would still like to know the TOTAL headcount and payroll across all funds by year since Ian.
What is the purpose of the mooring field? It’s been running as a deficit for years and NO we don’t have luxury yachts mooring there. It’s just run-down, rickety, dilapidated boats that the homeless live in. Get rid of that and it will save us 350K. Sell the lot that TC and the mayor are holding onto for some reason. They are going to bankrupt this town with their bad decisions and funding “studies”. Ed needs to hold Allers feet to the fire when he has his Sunday chatfest. No more lame excuses. This is ridiculous.
Your right mooring fields..raise each boat owners fees..like every condo owner on the island has had.Also sell the property of the old town hall.ASAP.
Our town Council is incompetent and completely out of touch with reality . You can’t tax and spend to prosperity. All these Depts that can’t pay for themselves have bigger staffs , higher salaries and less productivity.
The towns process and approach is backwards – they spend and then try and increase revenue to pay for bloated Govt.
We need limited , effective Govt first and foremost NOW
In case you didn’t know. The road next to the new town hall…is now paved with new asphalt from estero. blvd.to the bay…all these years its been a mess bumpy and water.It probably would have stayed a mess. New lights going up along estero.blvd.also by town hall..huge fire station going up….seems like most islanders will soon be priced out and the new islanders will move in…the 5 million dollar and up homes being built.
This is just another nail in the coffin for the era of self-rule for FMB. Its time to start negotiating with and facilitating the developers who are seeking the high-rise buildings on the beach.
You first have to negotiate with the residents about what some developers want. It was the residents who incorporated the town and they yield the power to dismantle it.
The pool is not a money maker for the town. In FY18 it operated at a $239k loss, in FY19 a $206k loss, in FY20 $227k loss, in FY21 a $277k loss in FY22 a $366k loss. Once it is open again, count more money out the door! Mound House also operates at a deficit each year.
You are so correct. We need to see proof of historical spending, the facts, not just speaking off the cuff. We need justification.
In 1996 we voted for government lite.
We were fools. Everything we incorporated the town for is now just a memory. Height restrictions low taxes.
Time to stop the government bureaucracy growing and gouging us more. Time to go back to county rule.
The Town Officials could care less and refuse to see property values are not increasing and for every person who rebuilt more empty lots remain. Penalize those who re-invested and this increase is ridiculous. The town won’t even allow a realtor to put a for sale sign on corner of road a home is for sale on. So many rules that don’t benefit the property owners who have stayed and now paying even more. You have priced everyday people off the island and we are stuck writing the checks. Do what a real busness would have to do, scale back what is not working or worth the dollars right now. Focus on helping people get their homes rebuilt and these insurance battles that still remains. Nobody should still be in a holding pattern to get paid by insurance company on the 3 year anniversary of the worst thing to ever hit us all. Wake up Town officials — its simple math and 26% is crazy.
Jessie Titus
Excellent! It’s been proposed before. Problem is the county has to approve it. It won’t.
The town council and mayor have done ZERO to help increase the sales and maintain the value of our homes. Mine has dropped 700K since Ian. We had friends that came to FMB to check out the progress and were considering buying. After they looked around they have changed their mind. They are familiar with rebuilding after hurricanes because they lived through hurricane Sandy and know the speed that an area should be taken care of in. They now are going to buy in Sarasota area. They too were hit and you can’t even tell they had a hurricane. I realize theirs was not as strong but they had a direct hit and that was not even a year ago. Ian was THREE years ago. Ridiculous.
100% agree!
Property values have significantly decreased since Ian. Ask any realtor! Why are taxes going up??
How about a 1% increase in the local use/sales tax…just for FMB?
Shut down or scale back any operation that isn’t essential or doesn’t pay for itself, examples are bay oaks and the mooring field. Problem solved. Then as the island rebuilds, reopen or expand services in those areas. The town doesn’t get enough revenue compared to Lee county. The town takes care of the entire island where Lee county takes care of Estero blvd. More county tax should go to the town.
I love how they say there is an increase in house values ! LOL yeah about 4-5 years ago !!!! None of my neighbors have been able to even get a buyers traffic let alone an offer. Prices keep dropping and there is NO ACTIVITY. Town of FMB get back to reality please…… You need to be fiscally responsible like regular people on the island just trying to get by.
They aren’t referring to the value in regards to resale. They are referring to “tax value” and the new homes being built have GREATLY contributed to a huge tax cash cow the town and the county will soon be enjoying. My old cute cottage house had a tax value of 225,000. Now my new house will be taxed at 4x that. Cha Ching, let that tax cash register ring. But yet, now they want 26% more.