Town of Fort Myers Beach staff told the Bay Oaks Recreational Campus advisory board on Sept. 17 that the recreation center faces deep cuts as the town works to close a roughly $1.9 million budget gap for the coming year.

The cuts proposed to the Bay Oaks budget included about $500,000 in total reductions, the elimination of an athletics coordinator, and the removal of three recreation aide positions, along with a proposed $200,000 reduction to special events, staff said. Community Services Director Jeff Helge said, “We took off about $500,000 off of our Bay Oaks budget in total.” He added that the special-events reduction “was about $200,000 out of the Bay Oaks budget for special events.”

Why it matters: The staff said those reductions would reduce weekend staffing, curtail tournaments, leagues and clinic offerings, and scale back family events such as Easter egg hunts and Fright Night unless other funding sources are secured. Advisory board members and residents repeatedly urged the town to consider raising the millage rate or increasing fees to restore services; Town Manager Will McAnay said council is weighing those options alongside other tradeoffs.

Pool funding and schedule

Board members pressed staff for a status update on a long‑planned pool rebuild. Helge and Parks & Rec Manager Neil Mathis said the town holds Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for the pool and has contracted Arch Aquatics of Sarasota for design work after receiving the single design bid.

“We awarded it to Arch Aquatics out of Sarasota. They were the only bid we got,” Helge said. He and McAnay explained the CDBG process requires county approval, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) review and reimbursement rules: projects typically receive reimbursement rather than full upfront payment, and federal environmental reviews and public interviews add time. Helge said the town still “has the money to build the pool” but cautioned that the county and HUD reviews have slowed work and that the town will need to follow federal procurement and environmental steps.

Park improvements, accessibility and programming

Staff reported progress on other Bay Oaks projects: MobiMats for beach access have arrived and will be installed when crews are available; the walking path will receive additional shade trees under a grant for landscaping; and the park’s multipurpose field was designed as a flexible space rather than a single-use softball diamond.

Mathis said the new park improvements include pickleball courts and that courts will be placed in a parallel layout because of site constraints and the location of utilities and restrooms. That layout prompted concerns from several advisory members and pickleball players, who said clustering courts in pairs supports more communal, open-play pickup rather than isolating single courts. Staff said the parallel courts resulted from time constraints on the grant schedule and required utility work.

Staffing, revenue and volunteers

Helge and Mathis described low post‑hurricane attendance and revenue that left Bay Oaks operating below the typical 24% fee-recovery benchmark for municipal recreation. Helge said the rec center’s revenue recovery rate has been nearer 11–12% since reopening and that the town asked staff to propose cuts across departments to close the general‑fund gap. Mathis said summer camp recorded 225 registrations over nine weeks and the after‑school program currently enrolls 24 children. Indoor pickleball check‑ins since reopening numbered about 164 players; staff reported 229 nonresident check‑ins between Aug. 18 and Aug. 30.

Board members and citizens emphasized volunteer and nonprofit fundraising to keep family events running if the town reduces special-event funding. A newly reconstituted Friends of Bay Oaks group has opened a bank account and is expected to receive an $18,000 town-allocated check for the organization; staff said the Friends group will be asked to present a budget request for items they plan to fund.

Pickleball, shade and other amenities

Several speakers urged more shade on walking paths and near courts. Board members discussed options such as shade sails for the fitness court and shaded staging areas for the new pickleball courts. Staff said park impact fees may be available for some of those improvements but cautioned that impact‑fee rules are governed by state law and must be applied to qualifying capital items.

Formal actions

The board approved the minutes from the June 25 meeting by motion, second and an aye vote. The board also gave consensus approval to admit member John Bislier via Zoom for the meeting.

What’s next

Town council will continue budget hearings in the coming week; staff said council guidance is still evolving and that the millage decision could change the final staffing and events outcome. McAnay asked advisory members to attend the budget hearing and offered to return to the board with more detailed, itemized budget scenarios. Staff also plans to present Friends of Bay Oaks with a list of priority funding needs so the volunteer group can focus donations and sponsorships.

Direct quotes from the meeting are drawn from recorded remarks by staff and attendees and are attributed in the text to the named speakers.