Each week through the Primary, The Breeze will ask the candidates for Cape Coral City Council an issue-related question. In the interest of fairness, each candidate is limited to the same amount of words, about 100, for their response.

This week’s question:

What is your first impression of the city’s working budget for the next fiscal year?

District 5 candidates’ answers:

Jason Conzelman

YouTube.com/@Conzelman4Councilman

I would immediately stop all money that dealt with the Jaycee Park renovations. I would cut back on the code enforcement budget, and put that money towards water restoration projects.

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Joseph Kilraine

KilraineforCape.com

The modified proposed budget is based on a half-back mill rate, 5.2188 (midpoint proposed vs rollback.) This produces ad-valorem tax revenue approximately $11 million over adopted 2024. Actual out-of-pocket resident taxes paid will be higher because … property values have increased, Fire Assessment remains 70% recovery adding $7 M revenue, the public service first 500 hours still is going to the charter schools not exempted, water assessments are increased by 11% (37% next three years compounded), trash is increased anticipating future increases … staffing adds 66 personnel with no correction for delayed hiring … increases in all … Bottom line, everyone will be paying more.

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Charlie Pease

VoteCharliePease.com

There needs to be much more proactive communication and transparency about the overall financial impact on residents and the net increase the average homeowner is facing with the proposed budget. While the millage rate will be reduced and potentially save the average homeowner $50 or so in property taxes, other assessments such as the Solid Waste Assessment and Fire Service Assessment are planned to increase by $40+ and $50+ respectively. We can’t bury discussions about these important assessments four hours into a five-hour Council meeting when nobody is present or watching — which is what happened on July 24!

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Robert Welsh (Incumbent)

VoteWelsh.com

When I looked through the city manager’s proposed budget, the first thing I noticed was the amount of additional positions he was trying to add seemed very high, especially since we often go with those positions unfilled. I also was encouraged to see that we funded the purchase of the golf course on Country Club that will become great park space for the city. However I feel that there are still some areas where we can cut spending and get to the rollback rate while still accomplishing these goals.