City increases solid waste rates
Bump for residential property owners is about $40 per year
Cape Coral City Council approved a near $40 increase to the annual residential rates for the solid waste Wednesday.
The vote was 7-1 with Councilmember Rachel Kaduk dissenting.
“For me this is still a no – $38.49 per resident – that is going up. For me it is still a no,” she said.
The introductory resolution, 205-25, was approved by council in July, which authorized the notice to property owners the first week of August. Wednesday’s approval was the final resolution for the city’s solid waste assessment.
Financial Services Director Crystal Feast said the assessment is a dedicated source of funding for garbage services and disposable services. Before 2001, the city billed residents directly for the services which are now part of the property tax bill.
“Since then, it was put on the tax bill and based on annual rates approved by the council,” Feast said.
Changes that affected the fiscal year 2026 assessment were the Waste Pro 1.66% CPI increase and the Lee County Waste Division approval of a 3.65% increase in disposal fees for MSW Gate Fee, horticulture, C&D and Class III, city officials said.
The Fiscal Year 2025 adopted fee was $345.76. The fee approved for FY 2026 is $384.25 for residential.
After some residents questioned a budgetary surplus, City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said the intent, from day one, was to fund an emergency reserve as the city uses a “glide path” to get its rates to market. He said it was always the city’s intent to get an emergency response reserve for hurricane debris to be funded out of the solid waste fund.
“The general fund – all taxpayers would be paying for that removal. If we don’t have enough funds available and we have to borrow funds you have to pay interest on those funds,” Ilczyszyn said. “This is not something new. This was a plan, and we are executing the plan, and this is the third year.”
Councilmember Laurie Lehmann said the city needs to have an emergency fund reserve because you never know what is going to happen.
“We are not talking an enormous amount of money — $2.20 a month (increase) to make sure that we are protected and garbage gets picked up and goes to the landfill like it is supposed to,” she said. “All the citizens are still protected, and I think that is important.”
The Hurricane Ian debris cost the city $67 million.
“That $67 million was a couple of years ago,” Mayor John Gunter said. “We probably only have about a third of what we may need if we have a storm of that magnitude again. I would lean towards having that reserve, at least a portion of it to get it started.”
Assistant City Manager Mark Mason said Hurricane Ian was an anomaly from a storm standpoint. He said Hurricane Irma before it was around the $25 million range, and Hurricane Milton after was about $10 million for debris cleanup.
“The understanding of this is for us to get reimbursed back – there is time,” Mason said. “We have to pay for this stuff up front and get reimbursed back at a later date. If FEMA works the same way in the next storm, (there is a) possibility we get half up front, but we still have to pay for half of it. The ultimate goal – resources available for residential pickup and cleanup following an event.”
Councilmember Jennifer Nelson-Lastra said the city learned from Ian that they were reacting instead of being proactive.
“We don’t know the outcome of FEMA and don’t know what is going to happen next time. Being elected during Ian and serving the community, there is a need to be proactive,” she said.
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