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Council adopts $24 million budget amendment; residents voice concern about debt
Summary
By 8-0 vote, Cape Coral City Council adopted Ordinance 13-25, a fiscal-year 2025 budget amendment that increases revenues and expenditures by $24,029,526 to capture previously approved actions, grant reimbursements and program adjustments; public commenters criticized additional borrowing and spending.
Cape Coral City Council on April 16 approved Ordinance 13-25, the second budget amendment for fiscal year 2025, increasing the city's revenues and expenditures by $24,029,526 to a revised total of $1,155,112,057.
Acting Financial Services Director Crystal Feast told the council the amendment reflects previously approved council actions from December through February, revenue true-ups and grant reimbursements. Major components noted in staff presentation included demolition funding for Bimini East (about $1.8 million), an upward revenue adjustment of about $5.6 million to the Solid Waste Management program, and additional FEMA-related reimbursements for hurricane recoveries. Feast also said five personnel changes are proposed (a custodian, two project managers, one code compliance officer and one business services manager) with costs to be absorbed by existing personnel savings.
During citizen input Marie Kavanaugh and another commenter criticized the city's use of commercial paper and recent borrowing for capital projects, saying prior ordinances had added debt for park projects and that the city should pause nonessential spending. One speaker said the city's commercial paper account is “maxed out” at $150 million and urged the council to reject the amendment. City officials responded that many amendments are revenue-driven adjustments required by Florida budget law and that the online budget and OpenGov reports will be updated within 24 hours for public review.
Councilmembers defended the amendment as a statutory and prudential step to keep the city's accounting accurate. Councilmember Steinke and others noted that budget amendments often include revenue increases tied to grants or reimbursements and that the process maintains a balanced budget as required by Florida law.
The council adopted the ordinance on a recorded roll call 8-0. Staff said the amendments will be posted to the city's financial portal within a day and that details of individual line items can be found in the posted budget documentation.
