Collier County officials flag $300 million stormwater shortfall; options include utility, MSTU or commercial paper

Collier County officials told the Board of County Commissioners on June 19 that the county faces a multi‑year stormwater funding shortfall and that a mix of short‑term borrowing and a dedicated long‑term revenue source will be required to address neighborhood flooding and aging drainage infrastructure.

Transportation Management Services Department head Trinity Scott said the department’s five‑year stormwater deficit exceeds $300,000,000 and that fiscal year 2026 alone shows an unfunded need of $64,250,000. “For fiscal year 26 and 27 shortfall solution, we’re gonna need to consider solutions such as commercial paper for this this large, amount of money,” Scott said, and added the county also must identify a stable long‑term funding source: “we need to identify a consistent and sustainable funding source for stormwaters.”

The nut graf: county staff framed the shortfall as both a capital and operational problem. In the near term, staff proposed using financing tools already in the county’s toolbox — notably commercial paper tied to existing roadway commercial paper and reallocations within sales surtax allocations — to cover immediate FY26 construction and right‑of‑way needs. For durable funding, staff laid out four commonly used options: a stormwater utility (flat fee by land use), a municipal service taxing unit (MSTU), additional ad valorem (property tax) dedicated to stormwater, or a voter‑approved surtax. Staff also raised franchise fees and bonding alternatives as part of longer‑term financing study work.

Transportation’s presentation identified priority FY26 projects that contributed to the $64.25 million need, including automations and pipe replacements and neighborhood outfall and flowway work at Big Corkscrew, Golden Gate City, Palm River, Poinciana Village, Naples Manor, Vanderbilt Drive and Lake Park. Scott said some projects are tied to partnership work with utilities or municipalities and therefore require coordinated funding and scheduling.

Short‑term direction offered by staff includes reallocating available sales surtax funds toward projects such as the Vanderbilt Beach Road extension so that commercial paper proceeds can be freed for stormwater construction. Staff also said they will work with the finance committee on bonding and financing options for FY27–FY30 needs, and advised the board that a sustainable funding solution would likely take 18–24 months to implement and would be accompanied by implementation costs (staff estimated a planning study line in the expanded budget of about $500,000).

Commissioners and staff discussed the political and practical tradeoffs among candidate funding approaches. County Manager’s office staff told the board that stormwater projects had been removed from the last surtax ballot to avoid confusing voters while a stormwater utility was under study. Commissioners raised the near‑term practical need to prioritize stormwater projects that mitigate recurring neighborhood flooding and noted the potential appeal to voters of surtax and tourist‑tax approaches for raising infrastructure revenue.

Ending: Transportation staff said they will continue procurement work for FY26 projects and return to the board with final financing recommendations after summer finance committee meetings. Scott said the stormwater team is organized to implement projects if funding is provided: “If we put the funding, to them, they will implement.”