Marco Island bond referendum: $23 million on August 18 ballot

Marco Island votes Tuesday on borrowing 23 million dollars for two bridge replacements and 36 lane miles of overdue paving, and the city puts the cost at 97 dollars a year on a million dollar home

Money & World

The Editorial Team · August 14, 2026

Stock photo

Stock photo. Not the actual scene. Photo: Marian Florinel Condruz / Pexels

What it changes

This is a property tax question wearing a bridge story, and the city has already done the arithmetic for you. The bonds would be general obligations backed by what the resolution calls the unlimited ad valorem taxing power of the city, which is the strongest pledge a Florida municipality can make and the reason it has to go to a vote at all. Unlimited means the levy is sized to whatever the debt service requires, so this is not a fixed charge like a fire assessment. The city's published table puts the cost at 48.72 dollars a year on 500,000 dollars of assessed value, 73.08 dollars on 750,000 and 97.44 dollars on a million, which works out to a uniform 0.0974 mills across all three rows. Set that against the operating rate the same council adopted on August 3, which is 1.2670 mills, and the bond would add about 7.7 percent to the city's own share of a Marco Island tax bill. On a million dollar assessed value that is 97.44 dollars on top of roughly 1,267 dollars. Note what is and is not decided by Tuesday. The question authorises borrowing up to a ceiling; it does not sell a bond, set an interest rate, or fix a debt millage. The resolution requires a further authorising resolution after the vote, permits issuance in one or more series, and caps maturity at 20 years from the date each series is issued. So a yes is permission with an outer limit, and the actual annual cost depends on how much of the 23 million is drawn, when, and at what rate, none of which is known now. The city's own figures should be read as an estimate, because that is what they are. The project list is more specific than the ballot question, and that gap matters. The ballot text says transportation improvements including but not limited to bridge replacements and roadway improvements, which is deliberately broad legal language. The city's project page is narrow: 4.5 million dollars for the Caxambas Bridge after two state grants of 3.75 million each, 6.25 million for the Goldenrod Bridge after one grant of 3.75 million, 1.5 million to repair the Blackmore, Sandhill and South Seas bridges, 7.2 million to catch up 36 lane miles of paving that are past due on a 10-year cycle, and 3.5 million to keep that cycle from slipping again. That totals 22.95 million against a 23 million ceiling, which leaves essentially no room, and the page states the two bridge replacements are scheduled for 2027 and 2029. The condition of the two bridges is the city's stated case and it is a state rating, not an opinion: the Caxambas has the lowest sufficiency rating of 370 bridges in Collier County with its deck and superstructure rated serious, and the Goldenrod is rated scour critical. A no vote does not make either rating go away, and the FDOT grants named on the page cover 11.25 million dollars of a 22 million dollar bridge programme, so the question in front of voters is really how the remaining 10.75 million gets paid. If you want to vote, the window is closing. Early voting ends Saturday, August 15, running 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the Marco Island Library on South Heathwood Drive is one of eleven early voting sites open to any Collier voter. Election day is Tuesday, August 18, polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on election day you must vote in your assigned precinct. Only qualified electors of the city may vote on this question, and a simple majority of votes cast decides it.

Marco Island voters decide on Tuesday whether the city may borrow up to 23 million dollars for bridges and roads.

The question reaches the ballot through Resolution 26-21, which the city council adopted on May 4 and which calls a bond referendum for August 18. It authorises, subject to that vote, general obligation bonds in one or more series in an aggregate principal amount not exceeding 23 million dollars, secured by the full faith, credit and unlimited ad valorem taxing power of the city.

The ballot question, set out in Section 6 of the resolution, reads:

Shall City of Marco Island issue General Obligation Bonds, in one or more series, not exceeding $23,000,000, bearing interest not exceeding maximum legal rates, maturing not more than 20 years from the issuance date of each series, pledging the City's full faith, credit and unlimited ad valorem taxing power, to finance the acquisition, construction and equipping of transportation improvements including but not limited to bridge replacements and roadway improvements?

Voters choose between Yes - For Bonds and No - Against Bonds. Section 7 provides that a majority of votes cast decides the question, and that if fewer than a majority vote yes, no bonds are issued under the resolution.

What the money would buy is set out not on the ballot but on the city's own referendum page, which describes a 10-year infrastructure plan in five parts.

Replacing the Caxambas Bridge is the first. The city states the bridge carries the lowest sufficiency rating among 370 bridges in Collier County, and that the Florida Department of Transportation has rated its deck and superstructure serious. A 2017 repair extended its life by 10 years. The council approved 265,371 dollars in 2024 and 161,351 dollars in 2025 to design a replacement and to design the relocation of the water and sewer mains running beneath it. The new bridge is put at 12 million dollars, against which two FDOT grants of 3.75 million dollars each leave a city obligation of 4.5 million. The work is scheduled for 2027.

Replacing the Goldenrod Bridge is the second. The city states FDOT rates it scour critical and that it is also among the lowest rated bridges in Collier County. Replacement is put at 10 million dollars, against one FDOT grant of 3.75 million, leaving 6.25 million to the city. That work is scheduled for 2029.

Repairs to three further bridges, Blackmore, Sandhill and South Seas, are put at 500,000 dollars each, or 1.5 million in total, scheduled for 2028.

The remainder is roads. The city says its roadways run on a 10-year paving cycle but that 36 lane miles have gone more than 10 years without paving. At 200,000 dollars a lane mile, catching those up is 7.2 million dollars. Holding to the cycle thereafter is put at 500,000 dollars a year over seven years, or 3.5 million.

Those five figures total 22.95 million dollars, which sits 50,000 dollars below the ceiling in the ballot question.

For the cost to a household, the city publishes a table of three assessed values. At 500,000 dollars of assessed value it puts the annual cost at 48.72 dollars, or 4.06 dollars a month. At 750,000 dollars it puts it at 73.08 dollars a year, or 6.09 a month. At 1,000,000 dollars it puts it at 97.44 dollars a year, or 8.12 a month. Those three rows imply a uniform rate of 0.0974 mills. No debt millage has been adopted, and none can be until bonds are actually sold.

Approval on Tuesday would not by itself issue anything. Section 3 of the resolution provides that bonds may be issued only after the referendum passes and the council subsequently adopts one or more authorising bond resolutions, and caps maturity at 20 years from the date each series is issued.

Early voting in Collier County runs through Saturday, August 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the Marco Island Library at 210 S Heathwood Dr is one of eleven early voting locations. Polls on August 18 are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Marco Island votes Tuesday on borrowing 23 million dollars for two bridge replacements and 36 lane miles of overdue paving, and the city puts the cost at 97 dollars a year on a million dollar home

A capsized boat sighted about ten miles off Marco Island on Thursday afternoon pulled marine units from four Collier County agencies out to it after an aircraft crew reported what looked like a person on or near the hull, and the crews found the vessel abandoned with no emergency taking place

The Marco Island borrowing survived its recount by the same single vote that carried it on election night, and the county's second unofficial count now stands at 2,259 to 2,258

Collier County has posted the schedule for the Marco Island bond recount, and it runs the machine count at half past one on Friday afternoon with a manual recount of the disputed ballots pencilled in for three hours later

Marco Island's 23 million dollar bond question now stands at a single vote with every precinct in Collier County counted, and the fifteen ballots that closed the gap since the earlier count were every one of them mail ballots