Win for Conservation Collier

Funding for Conservation Collier was one of the main items up for discussion and votes during the final hearing for the FY2026 budget of the Collier County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, September 18th, in Naples. 

Just shy of 20 speakers from the public voiced their opinions on the budget, with the majority speaking in support of keeping the millage rate for Conservation Collier neutral and funds intact. The importancein havingthe land acquisition program move forward, preserving the county’s green space, keeping our waters clean, and supporting tourism through our beautiful parks and beaches were all cited. 

Born and raised in Naples, resident Charlotte Newell said, “I have been fortunate to have traveled the world and there is nowhere like our Southwest Florida Everglades, and it is worth conserving. Collier County voters agree with that. We have agreed with this overwhelmingly and repeatedly for over two decades.” Turning to Commissioner Chris Hall, theprimary supporter in taking funds from the program, she asked, “Why do you think you have the right to disregard the will of Collier voters? Why do you think it is appropriate to cut a program that has the support of 77% of Collier residents?” 

Fearing that a change in the millage rate would disrupt land acquisition,resident Molly Duvall urged the commissioners to keep the current voter-approved millage rate for Conservation Collier. “This program is not an end-of-budget-year source of excess funds for borrow. Acquisition funds were meant to accrue, so when large high-priority parcels went onto the market, the county could act quickly to protect them through a rigorous criteria-based screening process. This vision is now at risk. Development is advancing faster than ever at the edge of our preserves. To cut funding now is to abandon current and future successes. To watch irreplaceable habitat disappear while the county turns its back.”  

County Commissioner Chris Hall took his time in explaining his stance and proposal to take $25 million from the Conservation Collier budget instead of fully funding it for FY2026.“The only way I knew to fully fund our budget, without raising taxes, was to be creative with some of the accounts. I am not the Conservation Collier Boogeyman; I don’t care what the paper or the news says. I have some fiscal common sense.” He went on, “We have three choices to fund the budget: Creativity,cuts, and spending. Or we can do a combination.Who doesn’t want a county to remain beautiful and to conserve what is good about it? I want and support that. I am here because it is beautiful. I am in office because I care. I am fiscally responsible, and I am responsible with the taxpayers’ money.” He told residents that if the program wasn’t fully funded for one year, developers would not come in. “That is not enough time for developers to come in and take over. I’m going to be creative with some money that is available, to balance our budget and not cost the taxpayers money to satisfy the trivial few who love their program.”    

Commissioner Bill McDaniel commented that he does not believe you can cut your way to prosperity. Going on to say that he wants to remain millage neutral and step on Resource X (a proposal that county consultants are working on for cost-cutting moves). 

District One Commissioner Rick LoCastrosaid, “I want to see some real savings from Resource X before making too big of a muscle movement.” LoCastro also noted, “Conservation Collier’s mission is a lot more complicated than ‘let’s just buy land and make it into a park,’” and also commented that some of the land purchased through the program simply stays dormant, allowing the ecosystem and wildlife to flourish without adding a trail or becoming a park. 

LoCastroreaffirmed that he does not believe in stepping over voters, rather that now is the time to educate.“I agree with all the math that's been talked about here,but I think our job as elected officials now is to educate the public and maybe have them go back to the polls with more knowledge and see if they agree with us.That it's a great program but maybe itshouldn't be at a millage rate that it is now. I think that's our job, not to sit up here like a monarchy.” 

Commissioner Chair Burt Saunders said, “Collier County has a beautiful median beautification program.It's not necessary;we don't have to do that.We have probably some of the best parks in the country; we don't have to have the best parks.We could let the maintenance slide on that. We could have average parks.We maintain our beaches with crews out there every day;we don't have to do all those things.But this is where we live, this is our quality of life, and so I've supported and continue to support millage neutral because I want to make sure that we not only have a beautiful community today but it stays that way.”  

After two-and-a-half hours of rigorous back and forth from the board, the county-wide budget passed with a 3-2 vote to keep the millage rate neutral for FY2026.Conservation Collier will remain fully funded for another year.