Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District commissioners inform public on services as merger referendum looms
District leaders highlight local response, lower millage rate as advantages
As Town of Fort Myers Beach and Lee County voters are being asked whether they want to merge the Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District into the Lee County Mosquito Control District, the commissioners of the Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District explained to the public at an informational meeting this past week that all of the benefits of maintaining local control.
The informational meeting was held at the Fort Myers Beach Public Library, the first of two meetings the district’s leadership has had with the public to explain the importance of what they do, offering a concierge serve to mosquito control where they can respond within hours to any mosquito complaint and attack the root causes of any mosquito nesting.
The meeting included the financial benefits as well, such as millage rate that is about half of the millage rate of the Lee County Mosquito Control District. That means if voters decide to merge the Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District into the Lee County Mosquito Control District, Fort Myers Beach taxpayers can expect to pay about double for mosquito control.
The Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District has a millage rate of .1123 per thousand dollars of assessed property value and a budget of $590,520. The Lee County Mosquito Control District has a millage rate of .2201 and a budget of approximately $30 million. That means if Fort Myers Beach and voters in the rest of Lee County vote to merge the two districts, Fort Myers Beach residents will not only lose their local control over mosquitoes, but will be paying more in taxes for it.
Last week, the Town of Fort Myers Beach Local Planning Agency gave conditional approval for the Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District to build a new 1,300 square-foot building on their property off Sterling Avenue, which includes a special exception. The district’s building, which stood on the property next to the Fort Myers Beach Woman’s Club since the 1960’s, was destroyed by Hurricane Ian. Staff have been working out of trailers ever since.
Due to the sensitive nature of Fort Myers Beach in being surrounded by waterways, the island can’t just be carpet-sprayed by the air. The district will go property to property spraying where necessary. An agreement with Lee County sprays the salt marsh in preserves of state lands on the outskirts of the district to prevent mosquitoes from forming off island.
The Lee County Mosquito Control District long treated the northern boundary of the district, in the state’s salt marsh at a cost of $60,000. Though this year, the Lee County Mosquito Control district delayed spraying this year until a longstanding informal agreement was formalized with new boundaries, as well as through a legal filing with the Department of Environmental Protection to spray state-owned land and preserves. The delays, which required the scheduling of extra meetings throughout the summer as legal boundaries were drawn up, also raised the cost of the service to $80,000. The county ended up pro-rating the amount to $20,000 due to the delays in only being 25% of what is normally sprayed, Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District Commissioner Steve Johnson said.
The Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District recently hired a new director in Brenton Betts, who earned approximately $85,000, or less than half of the approximately $195,000 Lee County Mosquito Control District pays their executive director, Aaron Lloyd.
Betts started last month after working as a liaison for the Florida Department of Agriculture between the mosquito control districts of 14 Florida counties. He previously worked as an inspector for Broward County, and Miami-Dade mosquito control district.
The proposal to merge the two districts was introduced by State Rep. Mike Giallombardo (R-Cape Coral) following a failed proposal by Rep. Adam Botana (R-Bonita Springs) to get the measure on the ballot two years ago. The Fort Myers Beach commissioners have opposed both proposals. The Town of Fort Myers Beach Council also opposed the first proposal by Botana, though it remained silent during the last go-round in the state legislature.
The district dates back to 1948 and has no debt, Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District Commissioner Joanne Semmer said. “We have the lowest millage rate of any mosquito control district in the state,” she said.
The Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District headquarters is located on Lazy Way next to the Sterling Avenue home of the Fort Myers Beach Woman’s Club. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
On Nov. 3, voters on Fort Myers Beach will be asked whether they want to give up their local mosquito control and merge with the Lee County Mosquito Control District. If a majority of Fort Myers Beach voters and voters in the rest of Lee County elect to do so, Fort Myers Beach will no longer have control of its own mosquito control.
“As a resident taxpayer, there is tremendous value in the Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District for our residents,” Johnson said. “The tax rate is almost half of what Lee County charges, you have local representation of commissioners, the prioritization of our district every day is Fort Myers Beach, with Lee County there are nine other municipalities waiting in line for service. You can’t treat our island with aircraft, so we are able to treat it as completely as possible under the law. You can’t treat it with aircraft because it’s preserves, and we are surrounded by ecologically sensitive waterways.”
The Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District commissioners will hold a second informational session with the public at the Fort Myers Beach Library Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 6:30 pm. on the third Floor, Room A.