Fort Myers utility rate increase: 5% in 2027, hearing Sept 21

Fort Myers has booked a September 21 hearing on the ordinance that confirms a 5 percent utility rate rise for 2027, rewrites the increases already scheduled through 2031 and adds an administrative fee

Money & World

The Editorial Team · August 18, 2026

Rows of empty seats in a public meeting room.

Stock photo

Stock photo. Not the actual scene. Photo: Daniel Cruz / Pexels

What it changes

If the City of Fort Myers supplies your water or sewer, the decision that sets your bill for the next five years happens on September 21, and Monday's vote was the step that put it on the calendar rather than the step that raised anything. Council gave permission to advertise Ordinance 4107, which is the required public notice before a rate ordinance can be heard. Read the agenda item closely, because it is doing three separate things and only one of them has been widely reported. It confirms the 5 percent increase for fiscal year 2027. It amends the increases already scheduled for fiscal years 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031, which means the out year numbers are being rewritten rather than newly invented. And it introduces an administrative fee. That fee is the part worth watching: the agenda names it and states no amount, so nobody outside the utility yet knows what it costs, and a flat fee lands hardest on the smallest bills because it does not scale with what you use. A second ordinance, 4108, rides the same hearing and raises reclaimed water from 1.72 dollars to 1.81 dollars per 1,000 gallons from October 1, so households on irrigation quality water are in this too. On the money, the city's figures as reported by WINK News put the typical residential bill at 107.28 dollars a month for the roughly 80 percent of customers using about 3,500 gallons, rising to 112.64 dollars, which is 5.36 dollars more a month or about 64 dollars a year. The city puts the additional revenue at about 4.4 million dollars and points to a 371 million dollar five year capital programme and a target of six months of reserves. For a household budget the compounding is the real story rather than any single year: five consecutive 5 percent increases take a 107.28 dollar bill to about 137 dollars a month by 2031 before any administrative fee is added, and that is straightforward arithmetic on the city's own starting figure rather than a number the city has published. Set this against the property tax side and Fort Myers residents are facing two increases from the same city in the same autumn, since council advertised a not-to-exceed rate of 7.3112 mills on August 3. The utility increase is not a property tax and does not move with your assessed value; it is a charge for service, so it reaches renters through their own utility accounts and reaches homesteaded owners who are otherwise protected by the Save Our Homes cap. Nothing is adopted yet. Permission to advertise is not adoption, the rates can still change before the hearing, and September 21 at about 4:30 p.m. at City Hall is the point at which public comment actually counts.

Fort Myers City Council has cleared the way for a public hearing on September 21 on an ordinance that would raise water, sewer and irrigation water rates.

According to the City Council agenda for the regular meeting of Monday, August 17, item 6.1 sought permission to advertise Ordinance No. 4107 for a public hearing on September 21, 2026. The item describes the ordinance as amending Chapter 90 of the City Code, covering water rates and charges under Section 90-35, service hours and fees under Section 90-40, and sewer service rates and charges under Section 90-112.

The agenda states that the ordinance would confirm the 5 percent rate increase for fiscal year 2027, amend the scheduled rate increases for water, sewer and irrigation water for fiscal years 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031, and introduce an administrative fee. It states no amount for that fee and no schedule of the amended percentages. The item is carried under the name of Jason Sciandra, the city's Public Utilities Director.

A second item, 6.2, sought permission to advertise Ordinance No. 4108 for a hearing on the same date, increasing reclaimed water rates by 5 percent from 1.72 dollars per 1,000 gallons to 1.81 dollars per 1,000 gallons, effective October 1, 2026.

WINK News reports that council voted at Monday's meeting to authorise advertising the ordinance and scheduling the hearing, and that the hearing is set for about 4:30 p.m. at Fort Myers City Hall. The report is by Olivia Jean and Gracie Fusco.

The same report gives the city's figures. City staff estimate the change would generate about 4.4 million dollars in additional revenue for the Utility Fund. The city says about 80 percent of its customers use roughly 3,500 gallons of water a month, that such a customer pays 107.28 dollars now, and that the bill would rise to 112.64 dollars, an increase of 5.36 dollars a month. The city points to operating and capital costs, a 371 million dollar five year capital improvement programme for its utilities, and an average annual cost of operating the utility that rose 7.5 percent in fiscal year 2024.

Sciandra told WINK News the city is targeting "a six-month reserve in our utility fund", which he described as covering repair work after events such as a hurricane. The city says the increase is not being driven by Amendment 3.

The agenda's own wording and the way the proposal has been described publicly differ on one point. The agenda item says the ordinance confirms the 5 percent increase for fiscal year 2027 and amends the increases already scheduled for the four years after it, while the proposal has generally been reported as a new 5 percent increase. No earlier rate ordinance was examined for this item, so the question of what was already adopted for fiscal 2027 is left where the agenda leaves it.

Permission to advertise is not adoption. No action agenda or minutes for the August 17 meeting had been posted when this was written, and the rates can still change before the September 21 hearing.

Fort Myers has booked a September 21 hearing on the ordinance that confirms a 5 percent utility rate rise for 2027, rewrites the increases already scheduled through 2031 and adds an administrative fee

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