Naples city residents could see their taxes rise next year after City Council raised its possible maximum millage rate to 1.27 mills, providing more leeway for their September budget hearings.
Council had agreed to set its maximum millage rate at 1.17 mills for its general fund June 17 after a lengthy, heated discussion and several votes, with some arguing for as high as 1.27 mills. But Deputy City Manager Gary Young, the city’s chief financial officer, asked for a special meeting July 29, during the summer break, saying he discovered the June vote was based on erroneous information about the majority required for the vote based on various millage rates.
In June, he told Council it would require a unanimous vote during budget hearings to set the millage rate above 1.17 mills, but he advised Council they only needed a two-third vote to set it between 1.165 and 1.28 mills, and a unanimous vote for anything higher than 1.28 mills.
The vote was 6-1 to raise it to 1.27 mills, with Vice Mayor Terry Hutchison opposing. Naples has one of the lowest tax rates statewide and raised its tax rate to 1.17 mills this year, up from 1.15 mills, a rate that stood from 2020 to 2023, when Hutchison also was the lone dissenting vote.
One mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 worth of a property’s taxable value after adjustments, including the homestead exemption.
“Raise it to 1.27, that’s a hundred bucks,” said council member Bill Kramer, who made the motion to increase the maximum. “That’s not even one Chick-fil-A regular sandwich meal a month.”
But Hutchison, who owns 7-Eleven franchises, said the customers he sees are among residents who struggle the most. “So, when it comes to taxes it means a lot to me,” Hutchison said. “I would rather do anything than raise taxes on our residents.”
He and council member Beth Petrunoff suggested looking at fees the city charges, including those for licenses, permitting and impact fees. “I along with others have made promises to not raise taxes. I will keep my commitment,” Hutchison said.
The millage rate, which must be certified by Aug. 4, is used to notify property owners through TRIM notices of the maximum proposed millage rate and property taxes. Council will host a budget workshop Aug. 19 and two budget hearings in September before adopting the budget and could agree to reduce the rate.
Mayor Teresa Heitmann thanked Young for bringing the discussion back after such a heated discussion in June.
“We all just had passion about making sure that we did the right things for our employees, the police, the fire and for the community,” Heitmann said. “… I believe that we do all support this, making sure that we do the right thing, protecting the health and safety of our community.”
She noted the city has discussed trying to fund the resources it needs for resiliency, police and fire, and that she and City Manager Jay Boodheshwar have discussed holding a possible voter referendum for a separate millage rate for those needs.
That couldn’t be done until 2026 at a cost of $80,000. Boodheshwar said he’d be meeting one-on-one to discuss changes in fees the city is looking at and also would present that at the budget workshop.
If the rate is increased to 1.27 mills, it would bring in more than $3.4 million in additional revenues for 2025. This year, taxable values increased more than 11% to more than $38.51 billion. Even if Council doesn’t raise the millage rate, the general fund will see a more than $3.85 million increase due to higher property values, much of it due to Hurricane Ian reconstruction.
