Council picks the financing path for the $1.6 billion utility plan
After hearing Stantec's revenue sufficiency analysis, Council reached consensus on commercial paper plus fixed-rate bonds, the option that avoids a fourth 11% rate hike and instead phases in 5% indexing starting in 2028.
At the April 22 Committee of the Whole workshop, Stantec Consulting's Pete Napoli walked Council through the FY 2026 Revenue Sufficiency Analysis. The presentation framed two financing structures for the next decade of major water and sewer capital work, and Council reached consensus on Option 2: commercial paper plus fixed-rate bonds. Workshop consensus is not a binding vote; Council still has to ratify the direction at a regular meeting before it becomes policy.
The plan it will finance is the largest utility capital program the city has put on the table in years. The current 10-year capital improvement plan totals roughly $1.6 billion. The major capital portion alone (FY 2027 through FY 2031) grew by $204.5 million over the previous iteration, driven mostly by four projects.
The cost driver Napoli walked Council through is straightforward: utility operating inputs (chemicals, electricity, fuel) are up roughly 60% since 2022, contractor bids on capital projects are coming in materially above engineering estimates, and projected construction-material increases range from 24% (electrical machinery) to 49% (fabricated pipe and pipe fittings). Inflation and tariff exposure were cited as additional macro pressure.
The two options Stantec presented produced almost the same total bill, with a slight tilt to Option 2. Option 1 (fixed-rate bonds only) penciled out at roughly $539 million in total debt service. Option 2 (commercial paper plus fixed-rate bonds) penciled out at roughly $524 million, a net present value savings of about $15 million. The bigger difference was the rate path. Option 1 would have layered a fourth consecutive 11% increase in 2028 before transitioning to a 5% indexing schedule. Option 2 skips the fourth 11% step entirely and moves directly to 5% indexing in 2028, then runs that 5% indexing through FY 2032.
One reminder for anyone reading this on autopay: the third of the three previously approved 11% increases still takes effect this October. Option 2 changes the path after that, not before.
Four major utility projects account for most of the $204.5 million increase in the FY27 to FY31 capital plan. Their combined cost moved from $334.0 million to $538.5 million. These are the projects every contractor pricing utility work over the next five years should have on their map.
| Project | Status |
|---|---|
|
North RO Water Treatment Plant Expansion, Phase II
Utility · capital |
In current plan |
|
Southwest Water Reclamation Facility Improvements
Utility · capital |
In current plan |
|
Everest Headworks
Utility · capital |
In current plan |
|
North Water Reclamation Facility 6 MGD, Phase 1
Utility · capital |
In current plan |
Source: Stantec Consulting, FY 2026 Revenue Sufficiency Analysis, presented to City Council on April 22, 2026.
Sun Splash is about to become a Ripley's property
Ordinance 26-26 would consent to assigning the Sun Splash lease from a regional operator to a Delaware LLC owned by Ripley's Believe It or Not! World Entertainment. Public Hearing is May 6.
Ordinance 26-26, introduced at the April 15 Council meeting and set for Public Hearing on May 6, would consent to the assignment of the Sun Splash Family Waterpark lease from PPW Cape Coral, LLC (the ProParks Attractions Group entity) to Ripley's Sun Splash Waterpark, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. The 14-acre park at 400 Santa Barbara Boulevard has operated under a 30-year lease with ProParks since 2021. The lease was amended in 2024 to extend the termination-for-convenience horizon to year 20 in exchange for $2 million in additional capital investment from the operator. No change to the underlying lease structure is on the table this round, only the contracting party.
The context that turns this from a routine lease assignment into a story: in August 2025, Ripley's Believe It or Not! World Entertainment acquired ProParks' three Hawaiian Falls waterparks in Texas. In November 2025, Ripley's announced more than $1 million in capital investment across those three parks for the 2026 season, refreshing rides, expanding cabanas, and adding food and beverage capacity. The Cape Coral assignment is the same rollup reaching Florida. If the pattern holds, Sun Splash is next in line for Ripley's-led capital investment under new ownership.
At the April 8 Committee of the Whole workshop, Team Lead Myri Del Leon presented the output of a weeks-long Kaizen review of the utility connection and septic abandonment permit pipeline. The stated targets: a 25% reduction in connection processing time and a 25% improvement in permit closeout time. Specific operational changes include integrating the Wildlife Affidavit directly into the online permit application, consolidating the utility connection and septic abandonment permits into a single permit, and requiring meter installation and septic abandonment fees to be paid before review. Staff asked Council to consider a new $20 administrative fee per resubmission after the first; City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn noted formal Council action would be required, and staff is to bring back an actual cost analysis. For every contractor pulling utility permits in Cape Coral, this is the operational change to watch.
A discussion at the April 8 workshop that began as a question about Tropicana Park's perimeter fencing (chain link, concrete, natural hedge, or slated panel) widened into whether Tropicana is the right long-term home for the Cape Coral Rowing Club at all. The cited reason: the Seven Islands development directly across the water, with 995 residential units and a marina coming online over the next decade. Mayor Gunter advocated for relocating the club to Crystal Lake Park; Councilmember Jennifer Nelson-Lastra favored keeping it at Tropicana. Staff direction: finalize a proposed agreement with a vegetative buffer plus chain link with slats, and bring it back for a formal vote. Worth noting: the club has 44 members total (14 adults, 29 youth), the youth crew has a partnership with Bishop Verot Catholic High School, and 33 of those 44 are Cape Coral residents. This is the first concrete signal that Seven Islands' eventual traffic and density is already shifting Council calculus on adjacent assets.
Jaycee Park officially reopens on April 30; the formal ribbon-cutting is scheduled for May 8 at 10 a.m. Full coverage lands in next week's issue, including what delivered against the approved scope (which moved from a $12 million original concept to a $16 to $18 million approved budget over the course of 2024 design discussions) and what remains pending Council direction on food and beverage.
Five Public Hearings sit on next Tuesday's regular agenda. The Sun Splash assignment (Ord. 26-26) is covered above. The other four were introduced at the April 15 meeting and previewed in Issue #001; they are still on track for May 6 votes.
Two stories from this week converge on the same point. The Stantec analysis priced the next ten years of major water and sewer capital work at $1.6 billion, with $204.5 million of growth concentrated in four projects. The bond ordinances coming up for vote on May 6 finance the early years of that work, with up to $103.5 million in assessment bonds tied specifically to North 1 East. Read together, the message to anyone holding land or pricing work in the North UEP corridor is straightforward: the financing is being put in place now, the rate path is set through 2032, and the dependency between the rate plan and the UEP rollout schedule means delays in any one expansion area ripple through the whole structure.
For homeowners already inside an active UEP area, the October 2026 increase remains in effect as previously approved; what changes is the path after that. For investors and contractors, the sequencing of North 1 through North 6 is built into the plan as a load-bearing assumption. Per Stantec, a delay, expedite, or restructuring in any single UEP area triggers a recalibration of the rate plan.
Future Pro editions will include the full Stantec rate model walk-through, Kaizen permit-flow diagrams, and weekly UEP pipeline tracking. Contractor Intel adds the bid-history dataset for every utility capital project on this list.
Upgrade to Pro | $59/monthThat's Issue #002. Next Tuesday we'll have the Council recap from May 6, post-reopening reporting on Jaycee Park, and a closer look at the Kaizen permit changes for the Contractor Intel preview tier.
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