Council adopts tentative fee schedule; mooring weekly rate added and several permit fees adjusted

Lede The Fort Myers Beach Town Council adopted a tentative fee schedule as part of the budget process that includes a new weekly mooring-field rate, higher parking and several permit and administrative fees. Councilors asked staff to refine certain increases before final adoption.

Nut graf Staff proposed multiple fee changes intended to better align user charges with service costs and to shift some program expenses away from the general fund. The council approved the tentative schedule but directed staff to revisit and clarify several items — including the proposed mooring maintenance charge and certain beach-furnishing and vendor-license increases — before the final hearing.

Body Finance and department staff walked the council through proposed changes across several categories. Highlights included:

- Mooring field: Staff proposed a weekly mooring rate of $175 and discussed a correction to a previously understated maintenance line item (the mooring-field maintenance budget was corrected upward by $40,000; earlier discussion referenced $60,000 in needed maintenance).

- Parking: Annual resident on-island parking decals and business parking fees were increased (examples include raising residential annual permits from $25 to $50 and business annual permits from $50 to $100); short-term bag rates and replacement decal fees were also adjusted.

- Vendor, licensing and enforcement: Personal watercraft vendor and beach-furnishing license fees were proposed to rise; emergency passes and replacement fees for re-entry were added. Staff said enforcement and administrative workloads and legal reviews contributed to the recommended changes.

- Building and permit fees: Staff proposed consolidating or packaging small administrative fees (for example, moving some development-agreement and administrative-relief charges into broader permit-review fees). Permit flat fees were generally increased by modest amounts to reflect review costs; staff offered to return with a more detailed permit-fee schedule and with options that group higher-complexity permits and assign higher fees where staff time is demonstrably greater.

Several council members said they supported targeted increases that charge users who create the demand for staff time and enforcement, but they resisted blanket, unusually large single-step increases without clearer justification. For example, councilors asked staff to hold the beach-raking and certain beach-furniture fees at current levels until staff can show why higher charges would be warranted.

Ending The council adopted the tentative fee schedule (Resolution 25-264) and asked staff to provide revised, line-item documentation before the Sept. 24 final public hearing so that fee changes can be finalized in concert with the adopted millage and budget figures.