Cape Coral Property Taxes

Many people have complained that Cape Coral taxes are too high. While it does cost more to live in Cape Coral than in unincorporated Lee County it is also a fact that the biggest bite of your total tax bill is for Lee County schools.

Here's an actual tax bill. The total tax for this property with SOH (Save Our Homes) is $2,497. In reviewing the trim notice there are 13 categories listed. Only two categories have to do with Cape Coral: General Fund $657.53 and Debt Service $26.74 or about 28% of the total bill.
On the same tax bill here are the totals for schools, county $298.85 and state $634.37 or about 39% of the total bill. (Note: School impact fees are a relatively new revenue source for Lee County schools. Had school impact fees been in effect during all of our unprecedented growth it's conceivable that our schools taxes would be much lower.)
Back to the tax bill. Approximately 31% goes to Lee County for General Fund, $493.02, Capitol Improvements $117.03, Library Fund $111.42, Mosquito Control $39.24, Solid Waste MSTU $22.89, Lee County All Hazards $8.48, Hyacinth Control $4.15. The remaining 2% or so goes to SFL Water management.
So you can save about 28% on your taxes, but in order to do so you’ll have to move from Cape Coral to unincorporated Lee County.

Civic bashing spurs public interest

We are pleased to report that City Council's attempt to bash the Civic Association on July 18 resulted in increased visitor interest to Civics'web page www.capecoralcivicassociation.org The activity report is for the month of July with the corresponding days indicated at the bottom of the graph. We thank council for their assistance!

News-Press, Cape cuts web links

Cape cuts Web link to group Civic association specifically banned;new rules adopted, by Don Ruane druane@news-press.com July 20, 2005
Visitors who browse Cape Coral's Internet site to learn more about the area won't find a link anymore to one of the city's oldest civic groups.
The Cape Coral Civic Association, a 42-year-old group that helped incorporate the city in 1970, according to its president, was specifically banned from the site's list of links late Monday night by the city council. The council voted 5-3 to not include the civic association after discussing some of the critical comments civic association President Ralph LePera and others in the group have made about council members.
The council also adopted a written policy for links by a 6-2 vote. It allows links to economic development partners such as chambers of commerce, and building and real estate associations. It also allows links to other government agencies, social service organizations, special purpose districts, hospitals, transportation hubs and public or private educational, entertainment, cultural and sports institutions.
That's the path the city council blazed for itself this week while establishing a written policy on what it will allow on its official Internet site.
The decisions highlight the interplay of politics, business and providing a positive image when a city or county decides what to include on its Internet site. Some cities and counties in Florida are guided by written policies, but others are not.
"I'd rather have more information out there than less," Mayor Eric Feichthaler said. The vote against the civic association was "totally political," but in keeping with a long-standing policy of the association, said LePera, whose wife, Alex LePera, is a council member. She, Councilman Richard Stevens and Feichthaler voted against blacklisting the association. LePera and Stevens also voted against the policy. "They, in their infinite wisdom, thought they were doing something to hurt Cape Civic. Guess what? It didn't hurt," Ralph LePera said. "They probably increased our membership."
Taxpayers shouldn't have to support links to nongovernment sites, Ralph LaPera said. The public can find those sites easily by searching the Internet, he said.
Cape Coral surveyed the Web sites of 16 cities and counties outside of Southwest Florida and included policies from nine in a report to the council on what links others include. The report included no information about government sites in Lee County.
But officials with Lee County, Fort Myers and Bonita Springs said Tuesday they do not have written policies on what links should be included on their sites.
The vast majority of the 412 local governments in Florida have an Internet site, said Frank Hagy, chief information officer for the Florida League of Cities. If they have links it's usually to government sites, he said. Linking to other organizations raises a fairness issue, said Hagy, who helped organize Orlando's site five years ago. "The concern we all had was what if you open it up to one and the KKK wants to put one on," Hagy said.
The Cape Coral council retained the authority under the new policy to decide which links will be included on its Web site.
In Lee County the decision to create a link to an outside organization is up to the department heads, said Assistant County Manager Pete Winton. They can ask the administration of the Board of County Commissioners for guidance if they have questions about the appropriateness of a link, he said. The county's site links to other government agencies and in some cases to social service agencies related to a county department's needs, such as human services.
"We have links to government and nonprofit areas," said Fort Myers City Clerk Marie Adams. The city's manager of information services makes the call about adding a link, she said.
Fort Myers' site links to city-related attractions, local media, the Boston Red Sox, chamber of commerce and art league. Bonita Springs avoids links to sites with illegal or immoral content, said city clerk and treasurer Dianne Lynn. The city has links to Turtle Time Inc., the ChildSafe Network and the chamber of commerce, but not to any civic associations. "There is no written policy. If someone e-mails us with a suggestion we take that into consideration. You can never have enough information out there," Lynn said.
Cape Councilman A.J. Boyd said opinion columns have no place on the city's site. He also expressed concerns about how the city could watch for material objectionable to the city on sites accessible from the sites linked to the city's site. "You should not have things that are negative or disrespectful," Boyd said. "I want what's best for this site to entice people to move their businesses and families to Cape Coral."

Civics' response to the mayor

DATE: July 24, 2005
TO: Mayor Eric Feichthaler
CC: City Council, Terry Stewart City Manager
FROM: Cape Coral Civic Association
SUBJECT:City Council Meeting July 18, 2005
The July 18, 2005 meeting of the Cape Coral City Council contained personal attacks, misstatements, gross exaggerations and absolute falsehoods from the dais, which aired on Cape TV, as it relates to the Cape Coral Civic Association. While there is concern with the content on the city web page, there apparently is little regard for what is allowed to air on public television.
Council members were allowed to vilify and discredit Civics’ reputation with false and misleading statements. Council members are abusing their positions and using the tax payer funded Cape TV as a bully pulpit for the purpose of venting personal grievances against Civic. Here are but a few examples:
a) Mr. Day stated Civic publications have “portrayed public officials behind bars.” That is absolutely untrue. I request that you have Mr. Day produce evidence to support the statement that he made to the public and that was aired on Cape TV.
b) Mr. Boyd once again brought up the subject of a “Wanted Dead or Alive Po ster.” A wanted poster did appear in the Oct. 2002 Civic Chatline. However, nowhere does the poster reference the words “dead or alive.” This is not the first time Mr. Boyd has brought up the same identical complaint. He made the same false accusation previously during city council meetings in Feb. 2004 (see previous response attached) when he, Mr. Day and Mr. Asfour orchestrated a “Civic bashing” that aired on Cape TV. Mr. Boyd has now done so again, under your watch on Cape TV.
I have also attached the poster and more importantly the related story from the Oct. 2002 Chatline. Where are the words “dead or alive?” Where is there any depiction of “public officials behind bars?” Mr. Boyd and Mr. Day’s claims are totally false, however once again, false information from your council dais was allowed to air on Cape TV.
c) Both Mr. Boyd and Mr. Day made statements as to the affairs and operation of the Coral Civic Association. Neither of them are members of Civic. Neither of them have first hand knowledge of Civic affairs. As such, their statements as to the affairs and policies of Civic are hearsay, innuendo and totally devoid of fact. Yet, their reckless and inaccurate statements were allowed to air on TV, without any substantive basis.
The Cape Coral Civic Association is comprised of citizens of this city. Citizens have the right to individual thought and expression. Public officials, especially from the dais, should and must be held accountable to higher standards than the public in this expression.
Mayor, during your election campaign it was your opinion that it is the mayor who is responsible for the conduct of city council meetings. I totally agree with you on this point. Blatantly false statements and personal attacks by members of your council are also reflective of improper conduct that is now occurring on your watch. It reflects badly on you, since you are allowing this to happen.
If what was said about Civic can not be substantiated by the individuals cited in the examples above, Civic requests that you, as Mayor and chair, publicly apologize for the gross misstatements, distortions and falsehoods that were aired on Cape TV during the council meeting on July, 18. We sincerely hope and trust that you, as Mayor, will not permit this to happen again.
Respectfully submitted,
Ralph LePera, President

Civics' response in 2004

The following took place in Feb. 2004 when council members took the liberty to bash the Civic Association during a public meeting on Cape TV. This was Civics' response.

Date: February 17, 2004
To: Mayor and City Council CC: Terry Stewart, City Manager, The News-Press Cape Coral Daily Breeze
From: Cape Coral Civic Association Board of Directors
Subject: Abuse of power / wasted taxpayer dollars and the blatant attempt by some council members to malign, slander, discredit and vilify the Cape Coral Civic Association.

There has been a deliberate and vicious attempt by Council members A.J. Boyd, Tim Day and Paul Asfour to vilify Cape Coral’s oldest civic association. Specifically the above mentioned members of city council have misused their public office to air on Cape TV deliberate malicious attacks against the Cape Coral Civic Association. This occurred during the Feb. 2 and Feb. 9 city council meetings.
The assault against the Civic Association was in our opinion, nothing more than public retaliation against Mr. Ed Steinberg’s appearance as an invited guest speaker at the CAC-Minorities meeting on Jan. 29, 2004. Chairman Espendez fully understood prior to inviting Mr. Steinberg to speak that Mr. Steinberg would not be speaking on behalf of Civic Association. A reading of the verbatim minutes from that meeting is very clear where Mr. Steinberg said and we quote; "...tonight I am speaking as a private citizen of this city, a resident who has been here since 1988.” We repeat:
Mr. Steinberg was invited to speak by Mr. Espendez the Chairman of the Minorities Committee. Mr. Steinberg was not speaking as the President of the Cape Coral Civic Association. Mr. Steinberg was not responsible for any advertising or the agenda naming him as President of the Cape Coral Civic Association
We find it most interesting that Mr. Boyd and Mr. Day chose to ignore facts in launching their retaliatory attacks against Mr. Steinberg and Cape Coral Civic Association at the Feb. 2, 2004 city council meeting during council reports. Mr. Boyd, while not mentioning Civic by name, directly referred to Mr. Steinberg’s “group” as a “cult.” Mr. Boyd also mentioned that Mr. Espendez, was being used as a pawn by Mr. Steinberg. Again, for the benefit of Mr. Boyd who chooses to ignore the facts, Mr. Steinberg was asked to speak. So we ask who was being used by whom?
During his report Mr. Day, on no less than three instances associated Mr. Steinberg’s comments with the Civic Association. Even though Mr. Day admitted to ordering the verbatim from the Jan. 29 CAC-Minorities meeting he mislead the public by stating he wasn’t sure if Mr. Steinberg was speaking for Civic. Either that or Mr. Day didn’t read the verbatim minutes that he requested. Mr. Day also moved to sunset the CAC-Minorities Board which was ruled out of order and placed on the agenda for the following meeting.
As a result of the Feb. 2, 2004 council meeting and the comments made that evening by council members, Mr. Steinberg appeared before council during citizens input on Feb. 9, 2004 as the President of the Civic Association to set the record straight. The following are highlights of what Mr. Steinberg said:
“……Mr. Boyd and Mr. Day both went to great lengths to criticize me and the entire Cape Coral Civic Association for comments I made as a guest speaker at the Minorities Advisory Board….. I previously had informed Mr. Espendez that I would speak at the minorities board as a private individual……. they ignored what the verbatim clearly shows…. While I have no problem with your criticism or disagreement with me as an individual for my remarks…… the record clearly shows that the Cape Coral Civic Association bears no responsibility for any remarks I made at the minorities meeting, I believe the Civic Association and its members are due an apology for the personal and disparaging remarks that were made against the organization.”
At the Feb. 9 meeting during the Administrative Discussion on the Minorities Board the request from Civic for an apology was criticized by Mr. Boyd and Mr. Day with exaggerations and fabrications that further compromised the Civic Association. No apology was sought by Mr. Steinberg for his personal remarks. The apology was sought for statements made by council members in the Civic Association.
Mr. Day started a discussion that lasted more than 30 minutes regarding the disposition of the Minorities Board. Yet more than 90% of the time was focused on Mr. Steinberg and the Cape Coral Civic Association. When Mr. Day started the discussion he incorrectly stated; “….remarks made by Mr. Steinberg and the Cape Coral Civic Association.” Mr. Day was wrong for including the Civic Association which made no remarks nor was represented in any way at the Minorities Meeting. Mr. Day should re-read the verbatim he requested. Mr. Day also suggested that Mr. Espendez was being used as a pawn by Mr. Steinberg. Mr. Day was wrong again. Neither Mr.Steinberg or the Civic Association asked Mr. Espendez for an opportunity to speak at the Minorities Meeting.
Mr. Boyd then picked up where Mr. Day left off. Mr. Boyd held up a copy of a newsletter story that included a poster published by the Civic Association. That poster said; “Wanted! For Destruction of Residential Neighborhoods” which is how Civic viewed council’s vote in the associated story. Isn’t it interesting that Mr. Boyd just happened to have with him a copy of the Oct. 2002 Civic newsletter for a discussion item about the Minorities Board? We can only conclude that Mr. Boyd had premeditated intentions to do further damage to the Civic Association with a concocted story about a “Wanted Dead or Alive Poster.” Mr. Boyd is wrong, Civic has never published a “Dead or Alive Poster.” Once again, based on the fact that the Cape Coral Civic Association in no way bears any responsibility for statements made on Jan. 29, we ask why was Civic the focus of the discussion of the Minorities Board?
Now to Mr. Boyd’s fabricated story. Our newsletter states: “Chatline is a publication of the CC Civic Assoc. solely intended for the enjoyment of its members.” For the benefit of city council we have attached a copy of the story and “poster” in its original form. There are no references to the words “Dead or Alive” anywhere. During his remarks Mr. Boyd also said: “A month after 9-11 Civic put 5 individuals on Dead or Alive Posters….puts five faces during terrorist times.” Mr. Boyd described the poster as a Dead or Alive poster, more than once. Later he soften his words by saying “Dead or Alive style poster.” He also used the “terrorist times” statement more than once in referring to the poster. And while most of us will never forget 9-11 obviously Mr. Boyd has. The 9-11 tragedy Mr. Boyd referenced occurred on September 11, 2001. The poster first appeared in Oct. 2002 and not “a month after 9-11” as Mr. Boyd stated in his fabrication that included his attempts to make Civic appear as “terrorists.” Mr. Boyd went on and on ad-nauseam about the poster, his truck ordinance and an unrelated alleged ethics complaint that he claimed was filed by Mr. Steinberg to which Mr. Steinberg has no knowledge of. Mr. Boyd’s unprofessional public display leads to the question of the abuse of his public office.
Civic also questions Mr. Boyd’s remarks about the KKK and the Black Panthers since most of his discussion was centered around Mr. Steinberg and the Cape Coral Civic Association. How dare Mr. Boyd infer or even remotely suggest that the Civic Association be in that same category!
Mr. Asfour then chimed in with sarcasm in addressing Mr. Steinberg’s heritage. Mr. Asfour questioned what minority status Mr. Steinberg possessed that would allow him to speak at the minorities meeting. We understand that being a senior citizen does place one in a minority classification. But then again that has nothing to do with the Civic Association. Mr. Asfour’s discussion of the war in Iraq and death of the Sarasota child also had nothing to do with the discussion item of the Minorities Board either.
Mr. Day then spoke again on the discussion item of the Minorities Board. Mr. Day again started by talking about “Mr. Steinberg, President of the Civic Association.” Yes Ed Steinberg is the president of the Cape Coral Civic Association. However, the issue you were supposed to be discussing was the Minorities Board. Mr. Steinberg in no way represented the Civic Association when he spoke on Jan. 29. Mr. Day then talked about how citizens should be charged for their letters to the mailbag “say $5-$10” and we would see a lot less letters to the editor. Mr. Day is probably correct. There would be fewer letters. But the same could be said if he were asked to pay for air-time on Cape TV (at taxpayer expense) to put out personal messages that have absolutely nothing to do with city business. Another example was Mr. Day’s comments regarding the mix up between Mr. Stevens and Mr. Davis with no relevance to the minorities board issue. Several other issues were also discussed without absolutely no relevance. However, we agree with Mr. Day’s comments that people sometimes do get the wrong impression based upon what they read in letters to the editor and what they see and hear at city council meetings. This is precisely the point. Certain members of this city council have misused the power of their office to deliberately misinform the public to undermine the reputation of the Cape Coral Civic Association over the past couple of weeks all at taxpayer expense.
We have also attached another newsletter from Chatline Nov. 2002, depicting the same poster. Civic republished the same poster in direct response to Mr. Asfour’s tirade against Civic. Mr. Asfour did this at a city council meeting following the Oct. 2002 newsletter publication. He too abused the power of his office to make negative and condemning statements against the Civic Association at that time. As you can all see, this is not the first time the Civic Association has endured the brunt of criticism from this council.
Civic invites you to read the article “News of a New Coalition….” from the Nov. 2002 publication. The article was written in response to the CCCIA and the Coalition for Better Government Power Point presentation made to some 300 people including the Chamber of Commerce, Council for Progress, news media and City Manager Terry Stewart. We understand this presentation started with a vision of an exploding Hydrogen Bomb and its relationship to certain city council members of who they believe contribute to the destruction of Cape Coral metaphorically speaking. The primary targets in the presentation were Mayor Arnold Kempe and Council members Alex LePera and Richard Stevens. This presentation was never publicly criticized from the city council dais by any of those targeted elected officials. Mr. Boyd, Mr. Day and Mr. Asfour complained bitterly about the Civic Association however, we point out their silence has been deafening regarding the outrageous distasteful power point presentation that we have cited. Obviously the only objection comes when Civic promotes view points on behalf of taxpayers and it’s fully acceptable when the beloved CCCIA, Council for Progress, Coalition for Better Government and the Chamber engage their self-interest promotions.
Mayor Arnold Kempe probably summed it up best when he said that elected officials should not use the power of their office to air personal grievances against any individual. Civic believes each of you as elected representative’s bears a responsibility for keeping less responsible council members in check especially during televised public meetings. In closing we will state once again, the Cape Coral Civic Association in no way was responsible for any statements made at the Minorities Meeting on Jan. 29. As such Civic again asks for a public apology to this organization from Mr. Boyd, Mr. Day and Mr. Asfour.
Respectfully submitted,
Ed Steinberg on Behalf of the Board of Directors
Cape Coral Civic Association

City Web Page Part III

On July 18, 2005 Council member Boyd complained again(he previously complained in Feb. 2002) that Civic published a Wanted, Dead or Alive Poster. This is the Wanted Poster that appeared in a Civic publication Oct 2002.
Where does it say "dead or alive?"

Council member Day said, "politicians are shown behind bars."
Where are the bars?



The following story accompanied the poster.

Compromising Residential Neighborhoods, but Who Cares?

The City of Cape Coral derives most of its tax base, about 90%, from residential property owners. Cape Coral’s biggest industry is the residential home building industry. So why is it that we have a number of City Council members who are so willing to continue to compromise the standards and trash our residential neighborhoods by relaxing laws designed to protect us? Over the years we have witnessed many of these transgressions that have infringed and eroded the peace and tranquility of our residential zoning laws. It is unfortunate that we have elected representatives with trailer park mentalities who think nothing of allowing commercial businesses to flourish and prosper in residential neighborhoods to the detriment of their neighbors and refuse to pass laws or diminish exiting laws that are intended to protect the most important investment that most of us will ever make, our homes.
The latest example of the assault on our residential neighborhoods occurred during the October 7 City Council meeting. Council member Dick Stevens tried to enact legislation that would prohibit certain types of commercial vessels from being docked in canals behind residential property. Among these vessels would be barges such as those used for dock building ( including the cranes and pile drivers on the barges) unless the vessel was actively engaged in the construction of a dock at the site. Another example would include towing vessels such as Sea Tow (which previously operated out of Tarpon Point Marina). Clearly these are commercial vessels that are actively engaged in commercial business activities and should not be allowed to dock in residential neighborhoods.
The most outspoken individual against the ordinance was Council member Boyd (and here we all thought Paul Monroe was gone). He had additional support from Council members Asfour, Day, Davis and Tate who ganged together to defeat Stevens’ legislation on a 3-5 vote.
Supporting Stevens’ ordinance was Mayor Kempe and Council member LePera. In the discussion regarding the ordinance, Kempe equated Sea Tow vessels as having the same purpose as tow trucks and asked Boyd if he would allow the overnight parking of “tow trucks” in residential driveways? Unfortunately Boyd and other refused to see the parallel Kempe created.
Mayor Pro Tem Alex LePera also fully supported Stevens’ ordinance and has long been an advocate of laws initiated that protect and preserve our residential neighborhoods. In the past she has voted against relaxing the truck ordinance allowing six wheel trucks (sponsored by Boyd) in R-1 residential zoning unless they can be garaged. She also sponsored legislation that prohibited short term rentals (less than thirty days) in R-1 neighborhoods, basically the operation of a hotel/motel business. That legislation failed because of the likes of Tate, Boyd and Davis who voted against the legislation at the time, in effect allowing a commercial enterprise to operate in residential neighborhoods.
Unfortunately we have added to council representatives such as Asfour and Day (Day appointed Joe Gensor an outspoken opponent against zoning restrictions to P&Z Board) who appear to be against anything that has to do with protection and preservation of our rights as homeowners & residential property owners.
It is now time that we all speak out and tell these representatives how we feel about the need to protect and preserve our investments and that we are opposed to allowing our residential standards to be diminished and compromised by their sub-standard thinking. If we don’t start to voice our objections now, to the poor decision process they make at our expense and allow the deterioration to continue we will all suffer through the loss of our property values. A good way to start voicing your objections is by sending emails to: council@capecoral.net. Let them know what you think about their voting records and we as homeowners demand that they start protecting our residential neighborhoods.

City Web Page Part II

July 22, 2005 letter sent to the news media.
The CC Civic Association was in the news this week as a result of city council's action to specifically remove Civic from being listed on the city's web site under “local organizations.” Civics’ position has always been that only governmental entities should be linked to our taxpayer funded city web site. Civic does not believe that its web site www.capecoralcivicassociation.org or any other non-governmental entity should be linked to the city web site nor did we ask to be listed in the first place.
That being said, on Monday, July 18, a majority of city council exercised its power to remove Cape Coral's oldest civic organization from the city's web page. You might ask why?
According to council member Boyd, he doesn't believe any person or group having “opinions” (contrary to his) should be allowed to link to the city web page. Council member Tim Day said; “only one group comes to mind” and he then proceeded to make outrageously false claims about the content of Civic publications as a basis for his actions. Others in support of this action were council members Bertolini, Jeffers and Rosado who said; “anyone critical of council needs to be penalized.” Prior to the vote, council member Stevens asked if the motion was to be “that discriminatory” to only remove Civic. Boyd’s response was yes.
Civic has long monitored local government policies, issues and the votes of our elected officials. Most of what is printed in its Chatline newsletter (printed for the benefit of our members) is nothing more than a report of council member votes or an account of their behavior during public meetings. If the elected officials don't like what they are reading then maybe what they are admitting is they don't like seeing the things they have done, in print. Since the opinion or account of council's action in this letter is to appear in the news media (as are many opinions, editorials and political cartoons) does this suggest that the city web page needs to remove its link to the media as well? Of course not, or then again, maybe so according to the rationale of some elected officials.
How many times have you heard it said; “I may not like what you have to say, but I will defend your right to say it?” This is what our democracy is all about. It is the very foundation of this nation and it is contained in our first amendment as freedom of speech. It is obvious that a majority of the elected body is sensitive to what is written about them, but rather than defend the principles that this nation was founded upon they chose to act in a vindictive, prejudicial and discriminatory manner. Remember, only Civic was removed. Remember the basis for removal is that a majority doesn't like what Civic has to say about them. I can only conclude that the majority on council are either ignorant of their oath of office, that includes defending the United States Constitution, or they have preference for third world thinking. We wonder who will be next on council's hit list?
nfortunately for the citizens of Cape Coral these are the officials we’ve elected to serve and defend our rights. Fortunately Cape citizens still have Civic to monitor and report on your city government and the behavior, comments and decisions of your elected officials. Public officials place themselves in the public eye, opening themselves to both criticism and praise. And then they have the nerve to cry when the public voices an opinion. Go figure!
Ralph LePera

Day upset over PIO pay

It appears that Council member Day is upset that Public Information Director Connie Barron is raking in $81,000 a year. What is sooooo amusing about this story is Timmy admitted that "someone told him" how much she is making. Hey Tim, you've been on council for four+ years and someone had to tell you what Connie is making. It's so nice to see that Tim Day is on top of things.