Cape Council to consider tax roll assessments
Cape Coral City Council has plowed through much of the budget propsed for next year, but there is another part of it they will address during Monday’s regular meeting at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Council will set the annual assessments for lot mowing, solid waste collection and service assessments for residential and commercial, fire protection and stormwater.
City Council approved the not-to-exceed rates on July 22, and these will be the first rates to be approved as part of the budget process.
Lot-mowing services are estimated to cost $3,592,250, total, for FY 2020 and the fee per mowing unit will depend on what district in which the property is located.
The city will have two options for rates per 10,000 square feet, which will be either the same rate as 2019 without the one-time $15 hurricane removal charge (Option 1), or rates with an increase of $8 in District 1 and $7 for the others (option 2).
If Option 2 is approved, District 1, which is the Cape south of Pine Island Road, will cost $73.40/unit; District 2 (The northeast Cape) will be $56.98; District 3 (north central Cape) is $57.62; and District 4 (northwest Cape) is $55.48. All are the not-to-exceed rates.
The cost is based on seven cuts annually between March and December, and more then 400,000 mows are done annually by the city. This includes removal of pepper trees and owl nest trimming.
Solid waste, which will have a $15,262,846 budget, will have assessment at $199.59 for each dwelling unit, as Waste Pro has requested a rate increase of 1.64 percent.
Again, the city will have the option of granting the increase, which would result in the $199.59 assessment, or opposing the increase, which would bring rates down to $197.46.
Fire protection rates are still in the air, as the City Council has been split regarding the Fire Service Assessment and whether it should be at recovery of 62 percent or 64 percent of operational cost of operations.
The per-property assessment feeds into the city’s General Fund.
The city is seeking a Tier 1 rate of $147.26 per parcel and a Tier 2 rate of $2.58 per EBU. The estimated cost for fire service in 2019-2020 is $28,866,737.
For stormwater, the city has proposed $119 per household for FY 2020, a $4 increase from last year. It will increase to $125 in 2021 and in $5 increments the following two years.
Councilmember John Carioscia doesn’t foresee any problems, but said he would watch the presentations before making any decisions.
“We’ll do what we have to do as we’ve done in the past. I’ve always read the materials, then went to the meeting and it’s more revealing,” Carioscia said.