To the editor:<\/p>\n
With property tax reform headed to voters, Cape Coral should be preparing now for the possibility of tighter revenue.<\/p>\n
Instead, the city\u2019s proposed FY2027 budget appears to move in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n
Rather than slowing spending, resetting priorities, or requiring departments to identify meaningful savings, Cape Coral is expanding nearly every available method of financing more government.<\/p>\n
Across five major fund categories, the proposed budget includes nearly\u00a0$54 million in deficits and fund-balance drawdowns for FY2027. Some of those withdrawals may be appropriate for legitimate one-time expenses, but the budget does not clearly separate those uses from recurring operating costs.<\/p>\n
The city also projects Fire Service Assessment revenue to increase from approximately\u00a0$64 million in FY2026 to $83.3 million by FY2028-an increase of more than 30% in two years.<\/p>\n
Residents were also presented with a proposed Parks and Recreation fee schedule containing substantial increases, with some proposed fees rising by as much as 80%. An accompanying resolution would authorize certain future increases of up to 15% administratively, without another City Council vote.<\/p>\n
And now the city is proposing approximately\u00a0$83.9 million in new governmental debt, including:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 $13.2 million for North 1 East transportation improvements<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 $32.6 million for the Fleet Facility<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 $38 million for Yacht Club construction<\/p>\n
Borrowing is not automatically irresponsible. Debt can be appropriate for essential, long-lived infrastructure. The same is true of reserves, assessments, and user fees.<\/p>\n
But these proposals should not be viewed in isolation.<\/p>\n
Taken together, they reveal a broader budget strategy:<\/p>\n
Keep spending-and find more money.<\/p>\n
Use accumulated balances today.<\/p>\n
Increase assessments and fees tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Borrow millions and leave future taxpayers with the payments.<\/p>\n
All of this is happening before voters have even decided the future of property tax relief.<\/p>\n
Cape Coral can see the revenue cliff approaching. Instead of applying the brakes, it is hitting the accelerator.<\/p>\n
If property tax reform passes, residents will undoubtedly be warned that service reductions will be severe, projects will be threatened, and the adjustment will be painful.<\/p>\n
But taxpayers should remember what happened before that vote.<\/p>\n
The city had time to prepare.<\/p>\n
It could have reduced spending growth, delayed lower-priority projects, required departments to identify efficiencies, and begun reducing its dependence on property tax revenue.<\/p>\n
Instead, it chose to lock in more spending, draw down more reserves, increase more fees and assessments, and add more debt.<\/p>\n
That begins to look less like preparation and more like a budget strategy that will make property tax relief as painful as possible.<\/p>\n
Before approving this budget, City Council should answer four basic questions:<\/p>\n
What spending can be eliminated?<\/p>\n
What projects can be delayed?<\/p>\n
What services can be delivered more efficiently?<\/p>\n
What should taxpayers no longer be expected to fund?<\/p>\n
Cape Coral does not have a revenue problem until it proves it has confronted its spending problem.<\/p>\n
Reserves today. Higher assessments and fees tomorrow. Debt payments for years to come.<\/p>\n
That is not preparation.<\/p>\n
That is not fiscal responsibility.<\/p>\n
It is a decision to preserve the spending and leave taxpayers with the consequences.<\/p>\n
Because every taxpayer should matter.<\/p>\n
Wes Owen<\/p>\n
Cape Coral<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To the editor: With property tax reform headed to voters, Cape Coral should be preparing now for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-370951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}