Stop the Massive Tax Hike

Over the last eight years Marco Island’s operating budget grew from $25.5M in FY2017 to $31.9M in FY 2025, an increase of $6.5M over eight years, the equivalent of a 2.4% average annual growth rate. Inflation in six of eight of those years ranged from 1.4%-3.4% (excluding two years of Covid and Federal spending induced inflation). The narrative that the city has been starved of money is false. It has been run as one of the most financially conservative and responsible local governments in Florida and perhaps the entire country. Kudos to the city leaders that achieved what few others do. 

During this era of $25 million budgets, the city paid down millions in debt, built a beautiful Veterans Park, a new emergency command center and fire station to withstand Cat 5 hurricanes, it rebuilt and widened the bridge on Collier at Smokehouse Bay, just to name a few major multi-million infrastructure improvements. The narrative that the city cannot improve infrastructure with budgets at these levels is false. It is simply a matter of prudently prioritizing projects. Instead, the city is orchestrating an effort to forcibly confiscate more money from the homeowners on Marco. 

This past week city council moved to increase the city’s operating budget from $31.9M to $42.4M, an increase of $10.5M in a single year, raising the millage tax rate by an astounding 34%. This will create a new baseline of annual spending moving forward that will be nearly impossible to cut back in the future. 

It is time to pump the brakes on this reckless spending and return to principles of fiscal conservatism. No increase in the mill rate will still provide the city with millions in new revenue.