Fort Myers Beach on financial consulting firm amid budget challenges

Sep 1, 2026 By Nathan Mayberg 8 min read

While the Town of Fort Myers Beach faces a proposed millage raise, along with potential new fees and an ongoing projected revenue loss, the town is also paying a financial consulting firm more than half a million dollars to cover for vacancies in the finance department. 

When the town council approved in August a maximum millage rate hike of 30% — up from 1.0294 mills to 1.34 mills — it did so after a budget presentation from Assistant Finance Director Jeffrey Newman. Newman had been with the town for less than two months, hired just days before Finance Director Joe Onzick retired in June.

Some in the public may have wondered why the town’s finance director didn’t make the presentation, or maybe assumed the position hadn’t yet been filled after Onzick’s sudden retirement announcement.

Yet the town did, and does have a finance director. Her name is Carolyn Luomala and though she is the town’s finance director, she is not technically an employee of the town.

Luomala works for the financial consulting firm Goldman Wolfe LLC, who were approved in May by the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council for a contract extension that pays them $580,000 through Sept. 25.

The financial consulting firm Goldman Wolfe LLC, whose offices stretch from New Jersey to Chicago and down to several Florida locations, were first brought on by McKannay not long after he was hired in May of last year after the town lost its finance director and other employees in the wake of the departure of former Town Manager Andy Hyatt.

The firm’s contract started out at an amount not to exceed $50,000. 

At the time, Onzick had resigned for the first time a month earlier and had still not returned to the town. Onzick would later return to the town in the summer to assist with budget preparations. In that budget proposal, the Town Council approved a 26% millage rate hike which it later lowered to a 4% raise.

When Onzick resigned that first time, under former Town Manager Andy Hyatt, he cited concerns in a letter that stated the town needed ongoing assistance with contracts and oversight of procurement, tracking grant-related expenditures and reimbursements, preparing FEMA assistance requests, financial oversight of the Tier 1 project, monthly financial statement preparation and establishing standard operating procedures.

McKannay said the firm was first brought in by him last in June of last year “after nearly the entire Finance Department left within a matter of weeks. That was within my authority as Town Manager, and I brought it forward for Council approval once the scope exceeded my approval threshold. They had worked with the Town before.”

On Aug. 4 of last year, the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council amended the contract with Goldman Wolfe, LLC at an amount not to exceed $197,600.

Then, this past May, in a resolution that cited the ongoing vacancies of critical finance positions, the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council extended the contract up to $580,000. The resolution states that the contract “may also be funded by projected payroll savings achieved through vacant positions.” It is not clear how many vacant positions the town is counting in addition to the loss of Onzick. Newman, who previously worked for the School District of Lee County as an assistant director of financial accounting and property records until March, was hired by McKannay in June at a salary of $95,000. 

The financial consulting firm “stepped in to cover our Finance Director, Accounting Manager, Budget Manager, and Accounts Payable functions; audit support, budget preparation, grant management, month-end close, and vendor payments,” McKannay said.

“Continued vacancies in the Finance Department meant we needed them beyond the original approval. As of May 18, 2026, the amount paid to them remained under the savings generated by those vacancies, so there was no added budget impact. Projected costs through September are expected to be offset the same way. The most recent not-to-exceed cap was needed because of the ongoing finance department vacancies and will only be used as necessary,” McKannay said.

On Friday, the town’s public information officer issued a statement that cited concerns by the town’s finance director (with Goldman Wolfe) as leading to the inquiry by McKannay into how four grants were handled by two of the town’s senior administrators, Jeff Hauge and Frankie Kropacek.

While Luomala could not be reached for comment and did not take part in the August budget presentation to Town Council, Goldman Wolfe Managing Partner Sam Howell said the firm has been filling roles in the town due to the turnover in the finance department and helping to “keep the wheels on the bus” while a search for replacements continue.

“We position accountants in there to support the town with their accounting,” Howell said. He said Luomala is filling an interim role as acting finance director for the town in order to satisfy the position and make sure the requirements of the job are met.

Howell said the increase in the firm’s contract from $197,600 to $580,000 that was approved unanimously by Town Council in May retroactive to September of 2025 through September 25 of this year, was due to “severe turnover” in the town. Howell said the firm uses a team of accountants that work on “various project as needed.” Howell said he was helping with the town’s budget preparations most recently.

Howell, who is based in Orlando, said the firm has helped in working on the reconciliations regarding the grant activity as part of McKannay’s inquiry into Hauge and Kropacek’s handling of grants.

Finances

Howell said he supports the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council and McKannay in the 30% millage rate increase they voted to approve as the maximum millage rate increase, though that rate could still be lowered. Howell said a millage rate like that “is appropriate” and he supports it. Howell said the town has maintained a low millage rate, which he said is “one of the lowest in the entire state,” that is not generating enough revenue to cover the resources and services for the town. “That was nice while it worked and it doesn’t work currently,” Howell said. 

“Fort Myers Beach can lower its millage rate to that degree and still be below average for the state,” he said.

As the town works to shore up its finances, McKannay said the Town of Fort Myers Beach has $15.37 million in pending FEMA claims, part of nearly $16 million in total outstanding claims tied to the Town’s Emergency Fund, McKannay said. These claims relate to reimbursement for emergency response and recovery costs the Town has already incurred and is seeking to recover from FEMA.

“The Town’s General Fund, which supports core government services, has not been directly impacted by these pending grants,” McKannay said. “If any of the claims are ultimately deemed non-reimbursable, the financial exposure would fall primarily on the Town’s Emergency Fund and Bridge Loan balances, with only a lesser, secondary impact on General Fund reserves. In other words, the Town has structured its finances so that day-to-day services continue to be funded regardless of the outcome of these FEMA claims.”

The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council still has time to lower its budget, with public budget hearings scheduled for Sept. 9 and Sept. 23.

The maximum millage rate of 1.34 mills that was approved equates to $1.34 per thousand dollars of a property’s tax value in the town.

McKannay told Town Council the preliminary budget he put together is intended to replenish emergency reserves and put aside funding for a study on canal dredging. McKannay said the town also needs to hire more staff next year for the community pool the town intends to rebuild.

McKannay said he plans to introduce new fees to raise revenue.

The town also faces the loss of tax revenue next year if voters approve a state homestead exemption referendum which would increase the exemption for homesteaded properties on town, county and special district taxes from up to $50,000 of a property’s tax value to up to $150,000 next year, and then up to $250,000 in the year after that. 

According to McKannay, the town is facing ongoing projected revenue loss related to prior hurricane impacts that total $629,030, which the town is planning to use a state bridge loan approved in 2023 to cover. The $11.9 million loan issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis has not been forgiven, which means the town must still budget the loan as being needed to pay back. 

The town is forecasting to use approximately $1 million less of the bridge loan this year than last year. 

Based on an increase in the town’s property tax values, the town will be seeing an estimated $342,382 increase in tax revenues based on the current millage rate.

According to a July 15 letter from McKannay to Town Council, there would be a $905,375 increase in contracted services for beach management in the next fiscal year. There would another $100,600 increase in contracted services for stormwater management.

Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers referred questions regarding the town’s finance director and consulting firm, as well as the ongoing inquiry into two senior department heads, to McKannay. “He is better equipped to provide accurate information,” Allers said. 

Fort Myers Beach Observer Editor Nathan Mayberg can be reached at NMayberg@breexenewspapers.com

To reach Nathan Mayberg, please email nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com