Marco Island City Councilman's View on Conservation Collier's Budget Discussion

Recently Conservation Collier was part of the budget discussion for Collier County.   Marco Island City Councilman spoke to the Board of Collier Commissioners to present his view on the topic prior to their vote.  

Good Evening Commissioners,  

After extensive conversations with Chairman Lo Castro, a review of your budget documents, and a careful study of the videos of your budget discussions, I’ve come away with a new-found appreciation of the amazing job that you, the County Manager, Deputy County Manager, and your department heads are doing in crafting our budget. I am especially appreciative of your handling of the Reserve Accounts and the role they play in county-wide emergencies such as hurricane clean-up efforts. 

We on the Marco Island City Council just finished working through our own budget process and faced the same challenges that you are facing. My struggle with trying to figure out the most responsible way to manage a budget of approximately 30 million dollars pales in comparison with your responsibility of managing around two billion dollars. 

Initially, I was concerned about the legality of changing the Conservation Collier millage rate and shifting program funds around. Through my review I learned that you have the right to both adjust the millage rate and shift funds. The referendum rate of .25 mills is the maximum rate but it can legally be adjusted downward. As far as fund shifting is concerned, it has already been used once to cover the gap when funding lapsed between the end of the program and re-authorization in 2020. 

Regarding three funding options discussed at last week’s BCC Meeting: 

Option one, fund the program at the existing level. I would support this option for the reason Commissioner Saunders cited during the last BCC Meeting; the increasing cost of purchasing land.  This is especially relevant for Marco Island as the number of available parcels shrinks and the cost of land continues to increase. 

Option two, adjust the millage rate downward to stabilize funding at the current, or slightly lower level.  

The annual valuation estimates discussed in your previous meetings project a surplus of approximately $68,000,000 more revenue than initially projected in 2020. Your argument for cutting the Conservation Collier millage rate to reflect this seems a reasonable approach given the myriad other budgetary shortfalls you face and your desire to be fiscally-responsible and help residents cope with the high cost of living. Adjusting the millage rate downward could still provide stable enough funding to continue to acquire land and fund the maintenance budget. 

I would support this option as long as it did not shift the program’s focus from acquiring the best properties , to only considering the cheapest. Land on Marco Island is among the most expensive being considered by Conservation Collier but it is also unique in the value it provides.   

Option three, pause the program. I do not support this option.  

Pausing this process will definitely result in losing some key parcels as willing sellers would face an additional year’s delay in selling their property. Several willing sellers have already waited close to two years to sell their properties. It is simply a breach of their trust in government to make them wait another year. Losing any of the stand-alone, high value properties on Marco Island to a pause would be an irreplaceable loss. 

Thanks again for your excellent work in crafting a budget that meets the needs of all Collier County residents. It is a daunting job but one that I am convinced you are up for.  

~ Marco Island City Councilman Rich Blonna