City’s millage rate set at 2.5000 mills
The City of Sanibel City Council approved a millage rate of 2.5000 mills, which is 6.9% above the roll back, during its final budget meeting last week.
“The 2.5000 is the right millage rate for us right now given our current situation,” Vice Mayor John Henshaw said of still recovering post storms.
He said his hope, assuming everything moves along where it is moving, is that the council can move closer to the rollback rate next year.
Councilmember Holly Smith said hopefully they will get more inventory back on the market to drive the tax base that they have lost to come back online.
The council also approved the fiscal year 2027 budget.
Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer Steve Chaipel said the budget total has not changed since the first budget hearing of $187,622,061 across all funds.
Councilmember Laura DeBruce said more than $100 million is Hurricane Ian designated in one way or another.
“Most resources are in the Hurricane Ian fund,” Chaipel said, adding that there is $80 million to $85 million of active grants still working. “The mass is Hurricane Ian recovery.”
He said in the general fund there is significant grant activity related to Hurricane Ian passed through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery.
“The grants in the budget right now have been approved for FISH and the fire district Station 171. That is $6 million of general fund budget that are pass through funds,” Chaipel said, adding that those entities spend the money, the city reimburses them, then Lee County reimburses the city. “Beyond that $6 million, the vast majority is in the Hurricane Ian fund — special revenue — and the sewer fund that is part of the enterprise fund.”
He said they made the decision after Hurricane Ian to withhold an administrative fee for CDBG-DR grant pass through money.
“We are allowed to withhold the administrative fee. We currently do not hold any money,” Chaipel said.
Councilmember Richard Johnson said most government agencies take some funds.
“It’s another example how we work as a local government and make the money go where it belongs and is most needed,” he said.
The final resolution that was unanimously approved established a committed fund balance for emergency reserves and operational support reserves.
The reserves were $5,900,000 for emergency reserve, $143,575 for operational support reserve and $1,475,000 for debt service reserve.
Chaipel said varying on the severity of the event, the reserves can be very short lived. He said with Hurricane Ian they went through $5.9 million in the first month.
The active line of credit was let to expire following Hurricane Ian.
The city has enrolled in the Florida Recovery Obligation Calculation, which is a new initiative sponsored by the Florida Division of Emergency Management. He said they are rated very high on experience and would receive 50% advanced funding on projects they develop after a storm.
“The purpose is to dispense cash quickly to start recovery,” Chaipel said, adding that their last number was 87%, one of the highest in the state for advanced funding.
Within a couple of months, he said the city would receive advance money by the state.
Chaipel said while the numbers were finalized during the Monday, Sept. 28 hearing, they will work through the budget process to publish all of the information for the public.
“The numbers are a small part of the communication tool of the budget. We will be flushing out the narrative to make it easy to understand,” Chaipel said, adding that the big part is explaining where the numbers are coming from.
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