Cape Coral sees the revenue cliff — and hits the accelerator
To the editor:
With property tax reform headed to voters, Cape Coral should be preparing now for the possibility of tighter revenue.
Instead, the city’s proposed FY2027 budget appears to move in the opposite direction.
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.
Across five major fund categories, the proposed budget includes nearly $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.
The city also projects Fire Service Assessment revenue to increase from approximately $64 million in FY2026 to $83.3 million by FY2028-an increase of more than 30% in two years.
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.
And now the city is proposing approximately $83.9 million in new governmental debt, including:
• $13.2 million for North 1 East transportation improvements
• $32.6 million for the Fleet Facility
• $38 million for Yacht Club construction
Borrowing is not automatically irresponsible. Debt can be appropriate for essential, long-lived infrastructure. The same is true of reserves, assessments, and user fees.
But these proposals should not be viewed in isolation.
Taken together, they reveal a broader budget strategy:
Keep spending-and find more money.
Use accumulated balances today.
Increase assessments and fees tomorrow.
Borrow millions and leave future taxpayers with the payments.
All of this is happening before voters have even decided the future of property tax relief.
Cape Coral can see the revenue cliff approaching. Instead of applying the brakes, it is hitting the accelerator.
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.
But taxpayers should remember what happened before that vote.
The city had time to prepare.
It could have reduced spending growth, delayed lower-priority projects, required departments to identify efficiencies, and begun reducing its dependence on property tax revenue.
Instead, it chose to lock in more spending, draw down more reserves, increase more fees and assessments, and add more debt.
That begins to look less like preparation and more like a budget strategy that will make property tax relief as painful as possible.
Before approving this budget, City Council should answer four basic questions:
What spending can be eliminated?
What projects can be delayed?
What services can be delivered more efficiently?
What should taxpayers no longer be expected to fund?
Cape Coral does not have a revenue problem until it proves it has confronted its spending problem.
Reserves today. Higher assessments and fees tomorrow. Debt payments for years to come.
That is not preparation.
That is not fiscal responsibility.
It is a decision to preserve the spending and leave taxpayers with the consequences.
Because every taxpayer should matter.
Wes Owen
Cape Coral