Cape Coral council adopts 12.5% annual mobility-fee increase, rejects higher-fee option

The Cape Coral City Council on Sept. 25 voted to adopt ordinance 42-25 using a mobility-fee schedule that applies a 12.5% flat annual increase for four years, rejecting a proposal to invoke state-authorized "extraordinary circumstances" and set higher mobility fees sooner.

Council members debated infrastructure funding, the burden on existing residents, and whether the city should use a state statute that allows higher fees when an "extraordinary circumstances" finding is made. After an initial motion to adopt the higher fee schedule tied to extraordinary circumstances failed 5-3, the council approved the 12.5% mobility-fee version by an 8-0 vote.

The measure modifies the city's mobility/impact fee approach so that increases remain inside the 50% cap contemplated by state law over the four-year phase-in. Proponents framed the vote as a compromise that balances the need to fund traffic and capacity projects with reducing short-term sticker shock for builders and buyers. Opponents said the long-term fifth-year spike is uncertain if future councils do not act to continue discounts.

Councilmember Kilraen, who helped craft the most recent fee chart distributed to council, described the adopted chart as "a blend" of earlier options and said the schedule "preserves the ability to go up on a slow ramp up so the vendor the builders can accommodate and adapt into a slow paced growth." Councilmember Steinke, who had made the original motion to use the higher schedule, agreed to modify his motion to match the 09/19/2025 backup chart and said the change "is a great compromise, to meet everybody's needs."

Several council members stressed the underlying infrastructure needs. Councilmember Kilraen said recent planning identified roughly $160 million in capacity projects and argued failing to collect adequate mobility fees now would push greater costs onto current residents or require other funding such as higher ad valorem taxes. Councilmember Laster and others questioned the uncertainty around year five if a future council takes no action; that possibility influenced some earlier votes.

City attorneys and staff clarified procedural effects: the version approved was the ordinance text and fee table identified in the 09/15/2025 backup (the council frequently referenced a 09/19/2025 chart during debate). The city attorney said the language in the ordinance that finds "extraordinary circumstances" appears in the backup but, as adopted, the monetary amounts approved do not exceed the statutory phase-in limits and therefore the council did not effectuate the higher extraordinary-fee option.

Vote at a glance: an initial motion to invoke extraordinary circumstances and approve the 09/19/2025 higher-fee schedule failed 5-3 (mover: Councilmember Steinke; second: Councilmember Long). A subsequent motion to approve ordinance 42-25 (mobility-fee version with 12.5% annual increases) carried 8-0 (mover: Councilmember Kaduk; second: as recorded by the clerk).

Councilmembers and staff also noted an explicit review requirement in the ordinance: the mayor and council are directed to review the mobility-fee schedule before April 1, 2029. If a future council takes no action, the fee calculation in the ordinance would take effect on Jan. 1, 2030, meaning the full (higher) calculated fee would apply unless reduced by future council action.

The ordinance and the fee table adopted are intended to incrementally increase mobility-related funding for road capacity and safety projects while leaving a path for future councils to adjust discounts or continue increases within the limits set by state statute.