Cape Coral council sets maximum tentative millage, backs 11% fire assessment increase amid FY2026 funding gap

Cape Coral — At a July 16 budget workshop, the Cape Coral City Council directed staff to prepare the city’s tentative FY2026 tax and fee notices using a maximum millage rate of 5.5188 mills, to advertise a fire service assessment increase to 81% cost recovery (an 11% increase from 70%), and to leave the city’s public service tax at 7% for now. Councilmembers said the city manager’s proposal and outside modeling show the changes are needed to keep the fiscal 2026 budget balanced and to limit projected reserve draws in later years.

The instruction came after presentations from city finance staff and Stantec Consulting that updated council on July 1 property-value revisions, proposed program additions for FY2026 and multi‑year projections. “Based on these adjustments, we are pleased to report that in the fiscal year 2026 city manager's proposed budget, we are currently balanced,” Nicole Reitler, the city’s budget administrator, told the council. She and staff said updated July 1 taxable values produced an estimated $2.3 million in additional ad valorem revenue but program and personnel requests left the city with an $8.1 million funding gap for 2026 without revenue adjustments.

Why it matters: Council and consultants warned that although staff’s recommended combination of program reductions and revenue changes balances FY2026, the city’s five‑year forecast shows deficits returning in 2027–2029 under the current revenue structure. Peter Napoli of Stantec told the council the baseline forecast assumes revenues grow about 3.6% per year while operating expenses escalate about 6% per year, which…