Fort Myers Beach finance director outlines staffing change, FEMA reimbursements and grants outlook

At a Fort Myers Beach Town Council meeting, the finance director reported that the town’s recently hired senior accountant will move to part-time status while the grants accountant is out for about three months, and provided a detailed financial update that highlighted ongoing FEMA reimbursements, grant balances and implementation of a new utility billing system.

The finance director told council members the town is still awaiting roughly $7.7 million from FEMA and FDEM and expects about $1 million in insurance reimbursement related to temporary town-hall expenses and trailers. She said the town has spent about $32 million on emergency expenditures since Hurricane Ian and has received about $18 million from FEMA and nearly $15 million in insurance proceeds to date.

The accounting office is also working through conversion to a new billing and accounting system and resolving complex, multi-year FEMA project accounting, which the finance director said has lengthened the month-end process. “It’s been taking more and more time to create the financial statements,” she said, adding that project reassignments and closed fiscal years force much of the reconciliation to be done in spreadsheets rather than by running system reports.

Why it matters: delays in reimbursements and complex grant accounting affect the town’s cash flow and the timing for repaying a bridge loan and for implementing planned capital projects.

Key details

- Staffing: The newly hired senior accountant will move to part-time while the grants accountant is out for about three months; the finance office will recruit a replacement for the senior-accountant position.

- Water main and contracts: The director said the town prepared a contract for installation of a gate valve at the South Booster Station and noted a water-main break on Estero Boulevard on Dec. 3; the town has been working with Lee County to determine responsibility and said repair costs were about $184,000.

- FEMA and insurance receivables: The town is expecting about $7.7 million from FEMA/FDEM and roughly $1 million from insurance for temporary town-hall costs; the finance director said reimbursements are on a reimbursement basis and can take months to years to process.

- Loan and grant balances: The town has an available $5 million hurricane-recovery loan (about $300,000 used so far), and an $8 million state-funded beach-renourishment grant of which about $4.2 million has been spent and $3.7 million remains. The finance director said a $7.5 million state revenue-replacement grant was approved and is expected to be disbursed after March 31 because state cash releases are quarterly.

- Rate study and SRF funding: The town plans to use the same rate consultant Lee County used for its utility rates (identified in the meeting as Reftellus financial consultants) via a contract-piggyback. The next water-rate schedule for Oct. 1, 2025, through early 2030 will come before council at a future meeting. The town also faces a roughly $2.7 million shortfall for a Tier 1 project; the finance director said staff will pursue a State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan increase during the next application window in August and consider folding additional projects into that loan request.

- Utility billing and accounting systems: The town is converting to a new utility-billing system from CUSI. Staff said the new system handles meter changes and related billing calculations more accurately than the old system, which should reduce later corrections. The town is also implementing new accounting software and initial training has begun; staff estimated a roughly one-year implementation timeline.

- Town hall and IT work: The town has outfitted its new town hall with wiring, security monitors, Wi-Fi and audio-visual equipment. Kirkwood Electric has performed much of the electrical work. The town’s IT services provider (identified in the meeting as Softrum) supplied services but required separate purchases for some hardware components; staff obtained component quotes and reported Softrum’s total price (services plus components) was lowest.

Financial position and cash flow

The finance director said the general-fund cash balance was healthy overall but noted the emergency fund had been drawn down; she reported a cash balance of about $1.8 million in the emergency fund and a fund-balance figure of about $1.3 million, with $8.7 million expected inflows (the $7.7 million FEMA receivable plus $1 million of insurance proceeds). She said unreimbursed emergency expenditures total about $428,000 and reiterated that FEMA’s reimbursement process is time-consuming.

Council follow-up items and next steps

The director said staff will continue weekly or biweekly coordination with FEMA program managers, pursue SRF and other grant opportunities, finalize data-conversion work for the new billing system so rate consultants can use converted data, and continue to collect documentation needed for FEMA claims. She asked the council to expect a rate-schedule item at an upcoming meeting for approval.

Votes at a glance

- Approval of minutes: A motion to approve the minutes passed with all members voting in favor (recorded as approved by the presiding official). The record does not provide a formal roll-call tally by name.

- Adjournment: A motion to adjourn was made and seconded; the motion passed with all in favor.

Sources and attribution

All quotes and specific figures above are drawn from the finance director’s report during the meeting. Direct quotes in this report are attributed to the finance director as recorded in the meeting transcript.

Ending

Council set its next meeting for April 14 at 9 a.m. The finance director said staff will bring the rate-schedule item and additional details on funding and the SRF loan request to a future meeting.