How Cape Coral is run
Who runs Cape Coral, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Cape Coral's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 9, 2026.
Who runs Cape Coral
A city manager hired by the council runs the city day to day. The council sets policy, adopts the budget and sets the tax rate.
What they are paid
- Up to 20 weeks' pay as severance if fired without cause
- $1,000 a month vehicle allowance and a mobile phone allowance
- City pays his family's medical, dental and vision coverage in place of a 2025 raise
- Four-year term to Sept. 19, 2027, renewing for two-year terms
Cape Coral city staff
2,092 full-time-equivalent positions, including Police 455, Fire 316. FY2026-27 (proposed budget). City departments only. Counting the city's charter schools (382.99) and the redevelopment agency (4), the total is 2,479.19. City of Cape Coral · Jul 22, 2026
Florida has no statewide pay database, and we found no city-published list of pay by position. News reports state the city manager's salary. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Cape Coral in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
Savings
Unassigned general fund balance: $29.9M (2025-09-30). City of Cape Coral · Mar 19, 2026
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026-27.
Comes from
- Property taxes$164M · 58%
- Intergovernmental (state shared revenue, half-cent sales tax and others)$41.2M · 15%
- Utility and other sales and use taxes$22.4M · 8%
- Charges to other city funds (internal service charges)$21.3M · 8%
- Licenses, permits, franchise fees and impact fees$11.8M · 4%
- Charges for services$9.2M · 3%
- Other (fines, miscellaneous, transfers in)$7.5M · 3%
- From savings (fund balance)$5.9M · 2%
Goes to (FY2026-27)
- Police$94.7M · 33%
- Government Services (citywide costs, and transfers for debt and the redevelopment agency)$59.8M · 21%
- Parks and recreation$37.5M · 13%
- Public works$25.5M · 9%
- Transfer to the fire fund (fire costs not covered by the fire assessment)$19.4M · 7%
- Information technology$13.8M · 5%
- Other (council, manager, attorney, auditor, clerk, development services, finance, human resources)$32.2M · 11%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Of each property-tax dollar a Cape Coral homeowner pays, about 35 cents goes to the city. City fire service is paid mostly by a separate fire assessment, not by this tax rate.
35¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Cape Coral
- City of Cape Coral (operating)5.1471 · 33%
- Lee County3.7623 · 24%
- Lee County schools (state-required)3.071 · 20%
- Lee County schools (local board)2.248 · 15%
- Lee County Library District0.4218 · 3%
- Lee County Mosquito Control District0.2116 · 1%
- South Florida Water Management DistrictDistrict-wide 0.0948, Okeechobee Basin 0.1026, Everglades construction 0.03270.2301 · 1%
- City of Cape Coral (voter-approved parks debt)0.1608 · 1%
- Lee County All Hazards Protection District0.0693 · <1%
- West Coast Inland Navigation District0.0394 · <1%
- Lee County Hyacinth Control District0.0192 · <1%
- Total (mills)15.3806
2025 tax year (FY2025-26) rates for a home in the city of Cape Coral (Lee County). Lee County Property Appraiser · Oct 13, 2025
See what a Cape Coral home costs each year, line by line →Who provides your services
Not everything in Cape Coral is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityCape Coral Police DepartmentCity of Cape Coral
- FireThe cityCape Coral Fire DepartmentCity of Cape Coral
- Water, sewer and irrigation waterThe cityCity of Cape Coral UtilitiesCity of Cape Coral
- StormwaterThe cityCity of Cape Coral (stormwater utility)City of Cape Coral
- ParksThe cityCity of Cape Coral Parks and RecreationCity of Cape Coral
- Mosquito controlSeparate districtLee County Mosquito Control DistrictLee County Property Appraiser
Compared with similar cities
The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.
| Per city | Fort LauderdaleFL | TallahasseeFL | Cape CoralFL | HialeahFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 192,338 | 205,623 | 222,862 | 232,243 |
| Top administrator's base pay | $325,000 | $317,000 | $314,205 | $205,000 |
| Council member pay | Not current (2023) | $102,723 | Not confirmed | $44,000 |
| General fund per resident | $2,915 | $1,151 | $1,269 | $1,086 |
| Debt per resident | $7,537 | $4,803 | $4,912 | $425 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $1,252 | $631 | $429 | $1,472 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 16.0 | 14.9 | 9.4 | 5.6 |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how). Tallahassee pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.
What Cape Coral publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Yes: Adopted budget posted online City of Cape Coral
- Partly: City manager's contract findable online City of Cape Coral
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member onlineOrdinance 48-26 lists each member's vote: the FY2027 budget passed 7-1, with Council Member Donnell voting no. City of Cape Coral
- Partly: Council pay stated in a public document Cape Coral Breeze
- No: Employee pay publishedWe found no city-published pay list by position. Florida has no statewide database. The budget lists positions by department, not pay.
Questions to ask your council
- The city carries $1,094.7 million of bonds, notes and commercial paper, mostly for utilities. How will planned utility expansions change that total?
- Council pay is a 2015 charter base raised by the Social Security COLA, but no city document lists the dollar amount. Will the budget show it?
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