As Town Manager Will McKannay stated Sunday on Beach Talk Radio, a proposal to raise the millage rate on Fort Myers Beach residents is coming. Now we know what the proposed increase is that he’ll be requesting next Monday.
Here’s the explanation as to why they are requesting a 26% increase from .99 of $1,000 of assessed property value to $1.25. “The Town has been awarded an $11,900,000 bridge loan to offset shortfalls in ad valorem revenue of which the town’s FY2026 preliminary budget includes $2,447,757. To become more sustainable in the future, staff recommends considering an increase in the millage rate. With the preliminary budget numbers, we are using $2,447,757 from the town’s bridge loan to cover operating expenditures due to loss in ad valorem revenue since hurricane Ian. A millage increase of 1.255 will provide $1,191,486.” There is a possibility the $11.9 million bridge loan will be forgiven, however, the town has not been told that will be the case as of yet.
The town has not raised the millage rate since before Hurricane Ian.
The beach will see more revenue from higher property tax values. Earlier this month Lee County Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell reported that property values on Fort Myers Beach increased 12% over the previous year. Caldwell says the taxable property value total on Fort Myers Beach is $4.6 billion, $514,240 more than 2024-2025. That surpasses the total property value number from 2022, before Hurricane Ian
A Tentative Millage Rate must be adopted by the Town Council and submitted to the County Property Appraiser prior to August 5th. That gives this Town Council one day to decide being that their next meeting is August 4th. Once the tentative millage rate has been set it cannot be increased, only reduced.
The town has to hold 2 budge public hearings after 5PM before approving a final budget, in addition to discussing the budget at upcoming Town Council meetings. The first budget hearing is September 11, 2025 at 5:01 pm, and the second budget hearing is September 24, 2025 at 5:01 pm.
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An earlier comment asked someone to look up surrounding communities millage rates. Hopefully Google AI is accurate!
FMB: Cuurent .99 / Proposed 1.26
Sanibel: Current and Proposed 2.5
Cape Coral: Current 5.22 / Proposed 5.52
Bonita Springs: Current .82
Naples: Current 1.23
Marco: Current 1.24 / Proposed 1.67
Sanibel, Naples and Marco have own Police, and Fire on Sanibel. Hard to compare
Remember when the town was run by the county we didn’t seem to have all the problems and the mess we have in our hands constantly with this board it’s time to turn the town back over the county and get rid of the town entirely
And turn us into Miami and Clearwater Beach.
Clearwater beach is absolutely beautiful and well run. FMB should read a few pages of their playbook…
So if I’m reading this correctly
Town raises taxes 26%, just temporarily of course
And the town has yet to allow us to reside at our residences due to incompetent permitting department and they’re constant rule changing, so a permit never gets approved
So we can’t live there, but we can mail our checks to them!
Doesn’t really seem to be a win/ win
Governor DeSantis, was just talking about how egregious the property taxes are in the state of Florida. Property taxes are the number one complaint from Floridians. The taxes we pay now are already outrageous. Every increase we’re told it’s just a little bit more . Next thing you know, the taxes are outrageous.
FPL is considering an increase in their fees. I guess $12 million for CEO pay last year wasn’t enough.
Correction…$14.2 million
Shame on the town, they can’t seem to get anything right, between disaster preparedness, dealing with derelict houses, beach sustainability. Now they want to increase taxes on home owners. The ones that support this should be voted OUT! Ed should send the names.
Struggling with reading comprehension?
Ed should “send the names” — what names?? This hasn’t yet been before TC nor have the two public hearings been held. The millage rate increase has not yet happened.
Ohh nooo! Not you again.
I have no idea why she is not blocked from posting. She always attacks Fort Myers Beach home owners and is rude because she is jealous. She doesn’t even live in Florida yet she wants everyone to think she does. She is trying to stay relevant. I wish the nursing home she lives in would take away her computer.
Rude.
Ed. what would that mean for a $1 million home / condo? For example a $1 million facility would pay the City how much at $0.99 mil rate and how much at a $1.26 mil rate on an annual basis? Thanks Arnie
Arnold, on a million dollar home it would be approximately $500 more.
Hi Karen. I am sure there will be additional info coming—whether new or enhanced services would be provided or if this is for keeping existing services. Plus a few examples of where they have saved money. It is confusing as to what exactly the town does —as most big ticket, visible services are from the county.
A million-dollar home would pay $990 at the .99 millage rate and $1,250 at the 1.25 rate, so the annual increase would be $260 a year.
Holly, since you know it all, provide us with the mill rates for Sanibel, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Naples and Marco Island.
No offense but Holly’s answers are spot on and typically accurate.
Also no offense but that calculation is 6th grade math. For those of you unable to use Google to get the answers for your self, be eductaed about what you comment on, and actually contribute to a conversation rather than spout backwards beliefs here you go:
FMB: Cuurent .99 / Proposed 1.26
Sanibel: Current / Proposed 2.5
Cape Coral: Current 5.22 / Proposed 5.52
Bonita Springs: Current .82
Naples: Current 1.23
Marco: Current 1.24 / Proposed 1.67
All this money spent on beach renourshment and turtle lights? Our main street is caving in. Its easy to spend other peoples money.
Raising property taxes when 100’s of properties and vacant lots do not sell, yet, revenue has increased.
Interesting – here we go again, no logic whatsoever with these people.
Work within the budget …
just like all of us do !!
If you’re gonna build twin towers, every block should look like Madison Court, improve the infrastructure, and quit talking about taxes; enough said, move on and prosper the small businesses and the tourist and the locals that live in love Fort Myers beach; will enjoy and flourish make sure you accommodate everyone; STR regulation should be eased; I’m just saying
yes….taxes taxes and more taxes….now I have to sell….thank you….remember to vote for a council that understands budgets and not spending spending spending
How about shrinking the work force..or dont buy more ATVs that drive all over the island.
What about selling the old town hall property? Work within the current budget (which is more than pre ian)….
With the Town’s approval of the new developments, that will most likely result in rentals, there should be more taxes on tourism, beds, rentals. We just went to Key West and 50% of our nightly rate was tourism related taxes. We went off-peak and it was still packed there. Visitors will complain at first, but they will still pay and still come. Start taxing the visitors instead of the homeowners.
Agreed
Taxable value for the 21-22 fiscal year was $3.8 billion, now $4.6 billion. As homesteaded property owners we are protected on the appraised value, but raising the mill rate voids that. I agree with the bed tax hike as it seems like a majority of new houses are built for STR.
There isn’t a city in this country that maintains a workforce and capacity to handle the administrative burden that results from the cleanup and rebuilding due to a major hurricane. While much of the initial burden was shared by FEMA (let’s hope it survives since there will undoubtedly be future hurricanes) to assist with the emergency and cleanup, there will be sustained administrative costs for at least the next few years.
Managing a short to intermediate burden is not an easy task and without extensive scrutiny, it is difficult to comment on how well the Town has managed this challenge. You can easily include Florida Power, FWC, SBA and the Army Corp of Engineers in this category. But it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the remaining costs to our reconstruction are primarily shouldered by the local property owners as outside agencies move on to more urgent emergencies at the same time as our property values have stabilized and in some case, increased.
So let’s keep our frustrations with the Town in perspective as we finished the job. This has been a new challenge for everyone, including the Town Council, Town Staff, Condo associations, business owners and residential property owners. I’ve made my share of mistakes and am not about to cast the first stone. That doesn’t mean staying silent, just try to make criticism constructive.
Very nice comment, not one of these council people had been through a hurricane disaster or recovery.
Why not increase the bed tax instead of the property tax? Let tourism pay a little more. It’s working for Key West. The taxes and fees down there are massive.
The bed tax is a county tax and FMB has no influence over that whatsoever.
Then FMB should create their own tourism tax. There will be some uproar, but people will still come.
Annual fee of $5,000 for each vacation rental since that is what the Island is becoming.
Agreed. Add a tourist tax for non residents.
With the unprecedented increase in property values since 2020 they are already getting significantly more tax revenue. It might not all be realized now until properties are fully built and rehabbed. At some point, if not already, they will be receiving significantly more. Will property owners get a decrease in the mileage rate at that time? Increasing taxes on already burdened property owners without a significant increase in their services is greedy and disgusting. Get rid of the people there who don’t pick up their phones, don’t respond to phone calls and have full voicemails because they don’t want to do their job. Show us your financials and we’ll balance your budget for you.
I love your comment….they dont know how to budget…spend spend spend..in the meantime we, as property owners must sell because we cant afford the taxes….what a disgusting way to run a town…keep raising taxes on the very people that love this place…I have owned for over 26 years…this year I am selling….I cant believe how mismanaged this place has become…I cleaned up my own yard…I am 75 yrs old and my dream retirement has been taken from me…I own a very informal small beach house…has been taken…instead of watching spending…they are approving large over the top buildings in place where they shouldnt be…where is my beloved little town? how could we let this happen…time for new people running the town!!!