As a retired CPA, I tend to focus on money. Money is needed for everything we do as a city. Some of our issues will require a great deal of money. We need to diversify our city revenue. Our major source of revenue, and the only one we really control, is the property tax. The residential properties (of which over 6,200 are homesteaded) pay 96% of this. Tourists contribute zero to the city treasury directly and only indirectly through the commercial property taxes, yet a significant portion our city costs are supporting and hosting tourists.
I have done a peer analysis (not an AI product, my own research) of 16 cities plus Marco and found that Marco Island is an outlier in its reliance on the property tax as the most significant element of city revenue. Working on diversifying our revenue is my top priority, and supports all other priorities.
I hope to convince the other 6 Councilors and the City Manager to pursuit a plan to learn from other cities that have achieved a more diverse revenue stream. We also need to have a frank conversation with the Tourist Development Council (TDC) and Collier County. The TDC spends millions of dollars promoting tourism on Marco, but not much to help our taxpayers pay for the costs to host tourists. We need infrastructure money from the TDC. One current Council candidate has been our representative on the TDC and he has achieved very little to help balance the equation. Yes the TDC spends some money on beach renurishment. But the money flowing to the TDC from the Marco economy vastly outmatches any money coming to Marco from the TDC. We can and should do better.
City services support the needs of residents, local businesses and tourists. Commercial interests pay 4% of the property taxes. Tourists pay nothing to the city. We need to balance who pays with who benefits.
We also need leadership that is a better steward of our money. I am a fiscal conservative. I oppose things such as the city pursuing a plan to spend $12 million on a parking lot to serve visitors who want to go to the beach, which was recently proposed (and now under fire, backed off). I oppose the abuse of working remotely which has been generously granted to certain city executives. Spending nearly a million dollars to replace a beach boardwalk mainly used by tourists is also a bad idea especially when it only needs some repairs. The list of misallocated resources is long.
We also need people with real skills and experience, and not just local experience, to manage our money. For 32 years my career was in public accounting and consulting with a Big Four firm. 20 of those years as a partner.
It comes down to: Who Do You Trust With Your Money?
Our city has not maintained the canal system on Marco Island. As a result, the canals have begun to decay, some more than others. The city is responsible for maintaining the canals. It will take a significant amount of money to address the problems caused by neglecting the health of the waterways. The solutions vary, but they all involve lots of money. See my position paper on restoring our waterways to health.
The noise and chaos caused by some negligent short term rental property owners must stop. We need a vigorous approach to restoring normality to our neighborhoods. This includes new laws and stronger enforcement. I support Councilor Gray’s efforts to address this problem.
This election is not a popularity contest, it is a serious opportunity for voters to decide the direction our city. Are we to be a mini Key West, or primarily a residential community known as a great place to raise a family, a great place to retire after a life of hard work. The education, skills and work experiences of the candidates are very important because these are how voters gauge who has the ability to do what they say.
I earned a Bachelors Degree from the University of Connecticut and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Prior to pursuing a career in public accounting, I spent 4 years working for the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority performing management audits of all utilities in that state, in collaboration with major consulting firms I helped select.
In conclusion, among all the challenges facing our city, one is quite prominent. Balancing the interests of Residents and those of Commercial Investors. Over the past 10 years or more the scale has tilted and it’s time for the residents to have a representative who is committing to fairness.