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June 7, 2026 · The Sunday Brief No. 005 · Cape Coral, FL
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FREE EDITION
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What's being built · What it means
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$1.5B
The full FY 2027 city budget on the table. Council votes in September.
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5–3
The split vote that sent the $65M bond ordinance to the governor's desk
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$0
What Jaycee Park's concessionaire deal produced. The Kearns Group walked.
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Lead Story · Summer Budget Workshop, June 4 & 5
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A $1.5 billion FY 2027 budget, a $3M gap, and a property tax proposal from Tallahassee that rewrites the math.
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The City of Cape Coral kicked off its two-day FY 2027 Summer Budget Workshop on June 4. City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn presented a requested all-funds budget of $1,504,837,279. The General Fund portion is $279,115,077, built on a millage rate of 5.1471 mills, unchanged from FY 2026.
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The millage rate holding flat does not mean property tax bills hold flat. Taxable values in Cape Coral are up 2.34% for FY 2027, based on the June 1 estimate from the Lee County Property Appraiser, reaching $33.4 billion. New construction is projected at roughly $1 billion per year through FY 2029. That growth, not a rate change, is what pushes General Fund ad valorem revenue up 4.5% to $165,092,423.
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There is a wrinkle. The budget was built using the city's own preliminary estimate of $33.4 billion in taxable value, while the Property Appraiser's June 1 estimate came in slightly lower at $32.79 billion. That gap produces a projected budget deficit of $3,067,604 on the current structure, a number staff will need to resolve before the September adoption.
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Proposed rate changes for FY 2027
Water & Sewer: +11% · Stormwater: +4.49% · Solid Waste: +5% · Property Tax Millage: unchanged at 5.1471 mills · Fire Service Assessment: 81% cost recovery (no change in recovery rate)
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Personnel is the biggest driver on the spending side. At $162,681,372, it accounts for 58% of the General Fund, ahead of operating costs ($75.3M), transfers out ($32.4M), and capital ($8.7M). Police leads all departments at $94.3M. Government Services is second at $58.2M.
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The budget development process began in November 2025 and accounts for 97 additional requested positions not yet included in the base budget. Some departments with larger asks: Public Works (45 positions, $5.8M), Police (34 positions, $7.8M), and Fire (14 positions, $2.9M). Whether any of those make it in depends on the Council's direction during the workshop and through the summer.
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The state factor: Save Our Homes proposal
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The budget workshop presentation included a dedicated section on the "Save Our Homes Proposal," a property tax relief package brought by the Governor at a Special Session. If it passes and goes to voters, the consequences for Cape Coral's future budgets would be significant.
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The proposal has five parts. Year 1 raises the homestead exemption for qualified homeowners to $150,000; Year 2 pushes that to $250,000, with annual CPI adjustments after that. The proposal also limits allowable uses of property tax revenue to public safety, education and public schools, infrastructure, natural resource projects, local bonds for those purposes, and employee retirement benefits. Small businesses get limits on future assessment increases. New Florida residents after January 1, 2027 would need to maintain residency for up to five years before qualifying for the increased exemption. A state trust fund would be created to provide grants to local governments to offset service gaps.
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The invocation at the June 3 Council meeting, delivered by Councilmember Kaduk, included a direct reference to the pending vote: "As our state considers property tax reform and places this important decision before the voters, we pray for wisdom, discernment, and an informed judgment." The next Council budget milestone is the millage rate certification in late July, followed by public hearings in September ahead of the October 1 FY 2027 start.
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Source: FY 2027 Summer Budget Workshop presentation, June 4, 2026, City of Cape Coral.
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Council Action · June 3 Regular Council Meeting
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The $65M bond ordinance passes, 5 to 3.
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After two public hearings and a full Committee of the Whole review, the Cape Coral City Council approved Ordinance 27-26 on June 3, authorizing up to $65 million in Special Obligation Revenue Bonds, Series 2026. The vote was 5 to 3, with three councilmembers dissenting.
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The four projects covered by the bond are already built. The ordinance refinances commercial paper (short-term debt) that funded those projects into long-term debt over a period to be set by Resolution 106-26. The projects and their estimated costs are: Jaycee Park improvements, Coral Oaks Golf Course irrigation improvements ($2.5M), North 1 West transportation improvements ($14M), and Yacht Club seawall improvements ($23M). Add them up and you get $58.2 million in completed work. The bond is authorized to a not-to-exceed figure of $65 million to provide room for issuance costs, premium or discount pricing in the bond market, and underwriting fees. Staff estimated those costs at roughly $500,000.
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Debt service will be paid from non-ad-valorem sources only. The Yacht Club seawall and Jaycee Park portions come out of General Fund revenues. Coral Oaks will be repaid from golf course revenues. The North 1 West piece comes from the six-cent gas tax.
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The core disagreement during the debate was philosophical rather than technical. The no votes argued the city had $40.5 million in unrestricted reserves, approved earlier that same night for reallocation via Resolution 150-26, and should have used that cash to retire the commercial paper instead of adding long-term debt. The yes votes answered that preserving reserves for disaster response, as a hedge against another Ian-scale event, justified spreading the cost across future taxpayers through a bond structure.
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Mayor Gunter clarified directly for the record: this ordinance covers only those four specific, completed projects. Comments during the public hearing mixed the bond with the broader Yacht Club redevelopment plan, the Fleet Maintenance Facility, and other capital items. None of those are in Ordinance 27-26.
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By the numbers
$58.2M in completed projects refinanced · Not-to-exceed authorization: $65M · Estimated issuance cost: ~$500K · Repayment: non-ad-valorem only · No property tax pledge
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Source: June 3, 2026 Regular Council Meeting video transcript; Ord. 27-26; Res. 106-26.
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Jaycee Park's concessionaire deal is dead. What happens next is a July question.
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The Kearns Group, the only firm that had been in active negotiations to operate the Bistro concession at Jaycee Park, formally withdrew its proposal on June 6. The city received the withdrawal letter Friday morning and confirmed it the same day.
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This didn't come as a total surprise at Council chambers. On June 3, Mayor Gunter asked City Manager Ilczyszyn for a status update on the concessionaire term sheet. The answer was short: no update. Ilczyszyn said he had been trying to reach the other party without success. The timeline for next steps was already stretching toward the July 15 regular meeting before the letter arrived.
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In his letter to Council, City Manager Ilczyszyn, and City Attorney, Zak Kearns cited four specific reasons for the withdrawal. Programming uncertainty at the park meant the concessionaire would have to take on the burden of generating foot traffic, not just serve it. On-site parking (126 spaces) was considered insufficient for a full food, beverage, and live entertainment operation during peak use. The economic terms required an upfront investment the group estimated at more than $2 million, including acquisition, build-out, a liquor license, and rent obligations, with a shorter lease term than comparable city concession agreements and no construction credit. And the boat dock timeline, a feature that would meaningfully improve revenue potential, was still unresolved.
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District 1 Councilmember Bill Steinke said via email to the Cape Coral Breeze that the city never envisioned the Bistro as a full restaurant and bar, describing the intent as "an oasis for the park goers to complement the food trucks." That framing suggests a gap in expectations between what the city thought it was offering and what any serious food and beverage operator needs to make the numbers work.
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The park, which reopened April 30 after an $18.7 million rebuild, now sits with no concessionaire in the pipeline. The city's Communications Office confirmed that any decisions on the next steps will come from Council after it returns from summer hiatus. The first regular meeting back is July 15.
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What to watch
The city will need to decide: re-issue an RFP with revised terms, scale back the Bistro concept to a smaller food operation, or operate the space in-house. None of those are fast paths. The $18.7M park is open but its planned revenue-generating anchor is gone, at least for now.
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Source: June 3, 2026 Regular Council Meeting video transcript; Cape Coral Breeze, June 6, 2026 (capecoralbreeze.com).
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State Preemption · Effective July 1, 2026
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House Bill 803 takes effect July 1. Permitting in Cape Coral changes.
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On June 3, Deputy Development Services Director Matthew Granville gave Council a full briefing on House Bill 803, signed by the Governor last month and effective July 1. The bill adds to a decade-long series of state preemptions on local permitting authority, and several of its provisions will have direct, immediate effects on how Cape Coral processes applications.
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The headline provision is the $7,500 residential exemption. Projects on residential properties costing $7,500 or less may bypass the traditional building permit process under certain conditions. This is not a blanket exemption. There is a mandatory written request process with a signed contract, and the state specifically prohibits splitting larger projects into sub-$7,500 pieces to exploit the threshold. Critically for Cape Coral: the exemption does not apply to properties in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). Per the city's own HB 803 presentation to Council, the vast majority of Cape Coral's platted land sits within a regulated SFHA, which means most local residential properties do not qualify for the exemption at all. Electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, and gas work on single-family dwellings also remain fully subject to permitting regardless of cost.
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The provision most operationally significant for the city is the new shot clock for simple residential permits under $15,000 on existing single-family structures. Starting July 1, the city has 5 business days to complete plan review and respond. If it misses that window, the permit is deemed approved by law and must be issued the next business day. Previously, missing a deadline triggered a fee refund. Now it triggers a legal approval. City staff said Cape Coral has been meeting a 30-business-day standard on residential permits since 2021, so the compression to 5 days is substantial.
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Three other changes worth tracking: HB 803 exempts temporary residential hurricane protection barriers from the permit process, though conditions apply. It changes permit expiration rules so that residential permits under the new framework expire one year after issuance or at the next edition of the Florida Building Code, rather than on the city's current 180-day inactivity standard. And the bill restricts how the city can calculate permit fees, prohibiting valuation-based fee structures for new construction; Cape Coral's current fee schedule is already in compliance on that front.
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The presentation closed on a candid note from Granville: "There are a lot of issues with this but we're gonna be forced by state law to implement" it. Staff will be reconfiguring online permitting software ahead of the July 1 effective date.
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What this means for owners and contractors
If you're pulling permits in Cape Coral after July 1, review your project against the new $7,500 threshold carefully before assuming an exemption applies. Flood zone properties, electrical, and structural work are not exempt regardless of cost. And on simple residential permits, expect the city to move faster; the state has removed its margin for delay.
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Source: June 3, 2026 Regular Council Meeting video transcript; House Bill 803, Florida Legislature.
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Code Enforcement · Consent Agenda Item
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Lot cleanup spending hits $85K cap. Council approves more room, with a debate about whether the ceiling should disappear.
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Resolution 137-26 passed, but not without pushback. The item, pulled from the consent agenda by Councilmember Long, authorized the city to expand its lot cleanup contract for code enforcement beyond the original $85,000 cap established in January 2025. The city has exhausted that amount, and staff asked for authorization to spend up to available budget appropriations going forward, rather than returning for approval at each new threshold.
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Long said he wanted a hard cap, not a blank authority. The FY 2027 budget request for the program is $300,000, and he argued Council should set that as the ceiling so members can revisit the program each year as data accumulates. City Manager Ilczyszyn's office explained that the 10-day compliance process approved by Council in the prior year has accelerated both code cleanup activity and the associated costs, and that it was more efficient to tie spending authority to the department's existing budget appropriation rather than return for incremental approvals.
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Councilmember Steinke noted that any expenditure beyond the department's appropriated budget would still require Council to approve a budget amendment, which he considered an adequate safeguard. Long voted no on principle. The resolution passed.
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Source: June 3, 2026 Regular Council Meeting video transcript; Res. 137-26.
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Council goes on hiatus. The calendar gets quiet, then very loud in September.
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The next regular Council meeting is July 15. Between now and then: HB 803 takes effect July 1, the Property Appraiser issues certified taxable values in late July (the number the millage rate actually gets set against), and staff works through the $3M structural gap in the FY 2027 budget. The Jaycee Park concessionaire situation, the North 3 UEP scope, the Yacht Club phasing plan, and the Fleet Maintenance Facility all remain open items with no resolution before summer recess.
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September is when the millage rate and budget adoption votes happen. That is also when the Save Our Homes ballot initiative, if it advances, will be on the horizon. The budget workshops happening right now are the last full look Council gets before those votes.
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That's The Sunday Brief No. 005. We'll have coverage of the June 3 consent agenda items and any June 5 budget workshop developments in next week's issue, alongside the first look at the certified taxable values when they land.
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