Council readdresses $65 million bond proposal

May 28, 2026 By CHUCK BALLARO 3 min read

The city of Cape Coral has multiple major projects it needs to complete, including the Yacht Club rebuild and the construction of a new fleet maintenance facility.

However, to complete these projects and others, in the words of George Harrison, “It’s gonna take money, a whole lot of spending money.”

Cape Coral City Council met Wednesday in a marathon workshop to discuss big projects and how those projects could be funded.

The funding is especially important.

What the city decides to spend will impact how large its planned fleet building will be and what they city is willing to spend on the Yacht Club rebuild.

The city’s Finance Department provided suggestions on how to fund capital projects via a special obligation revenue bond, a motion that was tabled at last week’s council meeting.

City staff recommends council authorize a $65 million SORB to fund improvements to Jaycee Park, a new irrigation for Coral Oaks Golf Course, the Yacht Club seawalls and transportation improvements to North 1.

There are alternatives.

Among the ideas finance staff made was for the city to spend some $40.5 million in leftover undesignated fund balance from previous budgets to help in funding.

This would leave the city around $18.8 million in debt issuance to fund the balance, unless the city decided to finance the whole amount or even split the difference.

Another option discussed was for the city to use 98 percent of project estimates rather than the typical 95 percent the city has used for years. Doing this would free up roughly $1.9 million per year in recurring revenue, officials said.

Whether there would be any leftover funds when the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 to apply to that is unknown, especially with the way costs for fuel have skyrocketed since the beginning of March.

Councilmember Bill Steinke cautioned that very thing. Because if the city dips into this money or even the reserves, it could impact how lenders see the city and lower its excellent rating.

“The city needs to estimate anticipated expenses, such as a family does at home with its budget,” Steinke said. “Using reserves is OK, but using them can impact our rating. Do we tap out our reserves? What if there’s a hurricane? Have we considered high gas prices?”

Mayor John Gunter told fellow council members to look at the big picture and what has to be funded in their totality, which is why he suggested they support the resolution and the use of the surplus funds.

“I believe we can go up to 98 percent in general funding and I’m confident we can use that $40.5 million, but we need to ask what projects we’ll fund,” Gunter said. “The fund to pay off the fleet building makes sense.”

The resolution and ordinance were denied in the previous city council meeting. The council will vote to reconsider the resolution under old business and place it on the next agenda June 3, under the objections of Councilmember Rachel Kaduk.

In other business, Public Works gave an update on the upcoming North 3 expansion project for sewer and water.

Bill Corbett said the design work is 98 percent complete for the $410 million project. Contract bid documents began early this month and the initial assessment hearing will be presented at a special city council meeting on Sept. 28. A public meeting is set for Oct. 19 and the final assessment will be presented at the Nov. 2 City Council meeting.

Construction is scheduled to start in December.

To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com