Town of Fort Myers Beach Council approves smaller millage rate hike than first proposed
Councilmembers weigh raising parking meter rates
The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council voted to lower the proposed millage rate hike on Wednesday, with a tentative budget that would increase the millage rate by 3% over last year’s budget, as opposed to the 30% increase that was in the preliminary budge they approved.
The new millage rate of 1.0655 per thousand dollars of assessed property value, is 3.4% higher than the current millage rate of 1.0294 mills. The increase would be 9.9% higher than the rollback millage rate, which the town is required to declare by state law.
The proposed budget would change 99 fee lines, raising fees for development orders, building permits, parking fines, short-term vacation rental registration fees and rates at Bay Oaks Recreational Campus.
The most controversial proposal from McKannay is sure to be a proposed increase in the town’s parking meter rate from $5 to either $6 or $7 an hour, just four years after the town controversially approved an increase from $3 an hour to $5 an hour. McKannay also suggested the town could offer a tiered rate, with different amounts for different parts of the town. McKannay said an increase in the meter rates to $6 an hour could “likely generate $500,000 in additional revenue for us next year.” It’s not clear if the town has weighed whether an increase in the rate could lose the town visitors.
Councilmember Rebecca Link suggested the town consider changing the rates of its meters based on the season, saying the town could have higher rates during peak season to encourage shuttles, and lower rates in the off season.
Vice Mayor Scott Safford said the town should use a “Key West model” and increase its parking meter rates based on demand. “It’s basic economics,” Safford said. “When there is a surge in demand and there is priority on where you park, you pay more. It’s just like going to a football game. If it’s a great concert, parking is $20. If the (Rolling) Stones are playing, it’s $100. If you want to park next to the stadium, it’s $150, Key West does it.”
Safford said the town could raise the meter rate “$2 or $3” depending on demand.
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers said he was open to raising the parking meter rates and said the town should consider an increase.
Allers, who was on the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council in 2022 when the council raised the parking meter rates from $3 an hour to $5 an hour, addressed the resistance to the increase at that time.
“I was the only one here on the Council when we went from $3 an hour to $5 an hour and you thought the sky was falling. You heard from the same businesses, you heard from the same people,” Allers said. “The businesses and town staff at the time were very upset about it and said ‘you can’t do this’, well the council made the decision and the sky didn’t fall.”
“Sometimes you just have to rip the Band-Aid off,” Allers said.
“I would be supportive of increasing that hourly rate to whatever that rate is, whether it’s $6 or $7,” he said.
“People are not going to be happy if you decide to increase it, I get it.”
Allers said he didn’t support the Key West model. “Some people may come down here and having no way of knowing what they are paying,” Allers said. “To me, you are enticing people to drive around and find the cheapest rate.”
Allers said he would like to have parking passes for off-island visitors, to give them a discount on parking if they make a large number of trips.
Councilmember John King said businesses at Times Square have concerns about raising the parking meter rates.
Link said “I think it’s something I want to think about more.”
McKannay also wants to increase parking fines from the current penalty of $77 to $150. He is also proposing to raise the fine for littering from $50 to $250.
Last month, the council approved setting the preliminary millage rate at 1.34 mills based on preliminary budget figures presented by Town of Fort Myers Beach Manager Will McKannay. That rate would have been 30% higher than the current rate. The public reaction was highly negative.
On Wednesday, McKannay presented a new budget with the town’s finance director Carolyn Luomala that dropped the millage rate through a proposal to institute new fees, freese and reduce personnel. Luomala works for the town’s financial consulting firm Goldman Wolfe LLC. The firm is working on a contract that will pay them up to $580,000 through Sept. 25. They were brought on to the town last year after much of the town’s finance department employees left the town.
McKannay said the new budget includes “tradeoffs” and reflects what he believes the public and Town Council wants.
“You told us to sharpen our pencils and find real cuts and efficiencies before asking anyone to pay more,” McKannay said at the hearing.
McKannay said that freezing eight positions at Bay Oaks Recreational Campus, the community development department, the Mound House and mooring field will save just under $600,000. He also reduced the transfer of funds into the emergency fund balance. He is also freezing the repayment of the looming $11.9 million loan from the state that was given to the town after Hurricane Ian, and which the town to date has been unable to get state legislators or the governor’s office to forgive.
McKannay said that even with the cuts, there would still be a budget shortfall of approximately $300,000.
McKannay said the budget will add staff to Bay Oaks for the expected reopening of the community pool.
At one point, McKannay said he believes the budget deficit of approximately $299,000 could be solved by the town increasing the parking meter fines, introducing non-resident parking passes, and increasing residential parking ticket fees.
Allers said that wasn’t enough for the town to prepare to start paying down the state’s $11.9 million loan from Hurricane Ian which hasn’t been forgiven. “Those notes are going to come due,” he said.
Allers said he supported increasing the parking pass for residents from $50 to $65 and wants to continue discussion on raising the parking meter rate to $7 an hour to raise further revenue.
McKannay said he still wants a canal dredging study, which he is shelving to help balance the budget. He said he also wants to fund a repayment of the state’s $11.9 million loan and to further fund the town’s emergency fund balance.
The budget decreases appropriations to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office from $195,000 to $100,000 to cover added services on the island for coverage during special events and peak tourist times. Private organizations already pay for extra coverage from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, such as the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club for the shrimp festival. What’s Up FMB had to also pay for additional coverage to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office during the Fourth of July parade.
The eight positions being frozen in the budget are currently vacant, including a town planner, a zoning tech in the community development office, a neighborhood services ranger, and staff at Bay Oaks and the Mound House.
The budget adds funds for beach maintenance, building services, and for the Bay Oaks Recreational Campus pool.
According to Luomala, if the town kept is current millage rate at 1.0294 mills, there would be a budget gap of $474,219. Even increasing the millage rate to the proposed 1.0655 mills leaves a funding gap of approximately $299,000 which would require additional budget cuts to balance the budget.
Luomala said the town’s fiscal position is improving due to an increase in the property tax value back to pre-Hurricane Ian numbers. This past year, the town’s property tax value figures pushed past the 2022 numbers.
The town’s taxable property value grew to $4.68 billion this year, up from $3.98 billion the year before. Part of that was due to new construction, and another part of that was an increase in property tax values last year. That equation could change next year, as those property tax values could shift, the county’s property appraiser has warned municipalities.
The town is also facing the loss of property tax value if voters in the state approve an increase in the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $250,000. That could impact the town by about $300,000 next year and double the year after.
The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council will hold a final budget hearing on Sept. 23, at which time it will finalize its millage rate and could adopt the fee schedule, and potentially raise the fees as proposed.
This story will be updated.