City Hall’s Powerball Fantasy—Funded by You!
- Concerned Citizen
- Jul 24
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 24
Cape Coral isn’t just growing fast—it’s bleeding money, and taxpayers are footing the bill. With Mayor John Gunter and the City Manager at the helm, frustrating decisions and financial missteps have left residents feeling ignored, cheated, and furious. Local community members have shared the following issues of concern.
1. Lavish Stipends Amidst Budget Crunch
Last year, the council quietly approved hefty raises—$5,000 per month for Mayor Gunter, and $3,333 for each council member without public input. Residents erupted in anger, accusing leaders of lining their own pockets while maintaining operational secrecy. And when asked to reverse course, officials refused, pushing the stipend right through, ignoring the people.
After the November 2024 election, where the voters removed 3 incumbents, the remaining council members, Gunter, Steinke, and Long, still voted NO to repeal the self-serving stipend.
2. Trash and Recycling Fiasco Costs More Than Just Complaints
The city is recommending an 11% increase to the Solid Waste Assessment simply to add $6.7 million in reserves to a reserve balance that will be at $16.1 million by the end of the fiscal year. Why are they doing this…….so you won’t feel bad when the Waste Pro contract expires in 2027, and it is projected we will need to pay more. This is criminal to charge this much more for a service without any capital requirements!
3. Corruption at the Helm: Discrimination Allegations & Retaliation
Former City Manager Rob Hernandez was dismissed after blowing the whistle on alleged racial and LGBTQ discrimination, praising minority hires and fair pay, only to be retaliated against. Now he seeks over $550,000 in damages—taxpayer-backed arbitration could cost far more. The defamation some the city leaders spewed about him was excessive. You can read more about that HERE.
4. Infrastructure Shortfalls and Unbalanced Budgeting
With declining home values, the City Manager is still presenting an increase in the Operating Budget to the council by over $100 Million, even though millions are racked up in surpluses every year for pet projects. Did the citizens approve Jaycee Park, the purchase of the Bimini East, the purchase of the Old Golf course, a quarry in Charlotte County, and the destruction of the Yacht Club? The council is focusing on adding more Fire and Police budget. Do we need that over water quality and road improvements? We should be focused on removing wasteful spending.
5. Everything Keeps Going Up - Leaders Don't Care
The Courts at Lake Kennedy cost over $1 Million to operate. Should the residents subsidize this, or should the users fund the cost? Here are the proposed new rates for FY 2026. The council approved a 50% discount for the first year to get membership up. It will be interesting to see how many members renew at the full rate and the new short-term rates.
| Annual |
Seasonal (October 1- April 30) | Monthly |
Individual | $250.00 |
|
|
Household Couple | $350.00 |
|
|
Household Family | $500.00 |
|
|
Founder Rate - 50% off all annual memberships purchased by October 28, 2024 for the first year of membership
This isn’t just about a price hike. It’s about transparency, accountability, and trust in our local leadership. And right now, that trust has long since shattered.
🔍 Bottom Line: Citizens Deserve Better
Cape Coral’s leadership seems caught in a loop of self-serving raises, missed services, and underfunded infrastructure, all while residents pay the price. Disgruntled citizens have launched recall petitions, demanded transparency, and vowed accountability. Unfortunately, not enough are paying attention.
What are Citizens Saying:
Gunter needs to be removed. He has poisoned our city. His action, and his action alone, cost the city 100,000 dollars. Gunter was 100% wrong again!
Can this mayor suck any worse? How is there nothing in place that can A- prevent this crap from starting or getting this far and B- force accountability and transparency (don't the sunshine laws apply here?) and C- no one who can represent or protect the residents who are being totally and recklessly screwed over!?
I can tell you that we had FULL canals nine years ago when we moved here. We were even told, "Buy on a canal. Your property will be worth more." The very next year the canals began to be low and have stayed low ever since. The GROWTH of this town is out of control! And that IS the problem. So many houses built, and EVERYONE wants their yard watered, which comes, in great part, from the canals. We have grown BEYOND our capability to keep up with essentials. There is not enough water for canals AND all water uses. Water boil notices all over town, infrastructure failing....how about a moratorium on building?....and allow all these issues to play "catch up"? You can't even get a permit for ANYTHING within a reasonable time. That alone should speak volumes!!
I’ve lived in Cape for over 35 years and this is unbelievable what it’s turned into!! All they want here now is the retired rich class, so how about you go work in all the blue-collar jobs here as well, because those people can’t even afford to live here or actually even feel wanted here it’s a disgrace! Sorry not sorry my opinion!!
Has anyone noticed that all local government sites on Facebook have the comments turned off?
Tom Shadrach was set up, too, with his budget review committee letting us all know the games being played. You can watch the video of the mayor and Patti put on well-rehearsed exchange while Long worked hard on his iPad, finding a way to dump Tom that night with NO chance for Tom to defend the lies they spewed.
Thanks to our corrupt city. Everything is going up for us, residents. It’s quite disgusting.
Naples, the Pickleball MECCA charges just $100 a year for access to over 65 courts. Meanwhile, Cape Coral wants to hike prices by 150%? Moves like this are exactly why Cape Coral struggles to earn the same respect.
Has this even been open a year yet? Just another example of those in charge pricing out the families in this city. To what end? Cape Coral will never be a high-dollar city. Beach access is nonexistent. Traffic is horrendous, U-Turn capital of something. There is nothing to attract people to this city any longer. It used to be the promise of a family-friendly community. We dealt with being hours away from any of Florida's attractions. Namely, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, but also Naples and Fort Myers Beach. Can anyone get to either in less than an hour during season? Someone can give me a history lesson here, but I thought Cape Coral was supposed to be the family-friendly dream where an average family could live on the water (canals) in "paradise." These courts were a terrible idea from the beginning, and costs were already too high for families.
It’s sad they removed that food truck at Home Depot. That truck was there ever since I can remember. They’re taking everything away that we enjoy. He’s laughing because he didn’t get out! When we couldn’t get enough signed signatures, I will not be living in Cape Coral in the future, but everyone has to ban together and get him out of office at election time !!! He’s such a piece of crap, excuse my language, he’s all about money, this place looks like a little Miami, all the real estate and apt buildings going up, I’m tending to think he is more more democrat!!
Come election time, once again we have the opportunity to take out the trash, but I yet to see any contenders. Now is the time to get our next City Mayor vetted and knocking on doors.
The way they did the dual water assessments was illegal, and there was an attorney from North Florida who did a public service request on all the contracts and everything, and then they had me pick it up because he was afraid of retaliation. They gave me two CDs, and I don't know if you paid for it or not
This project should never have been done. I didn't know anything about this park initially. After the reporting began, we went for a visit and found a nice local park that I suspect the off the beaten path park was really enjoyed by the local residents. Then, when I saw what they planned, I was incredulous! This is a symptom of a completely out-of-control government. People protested and told the city Don't do this crazy project. Yet they did it anyway. Now it is a disaster. Infuriating!!
Ripoffs! The mayor needs gas for his new million-dollar boat!
What you fail to mention is that the collective decision-making being discussed is a concept from Leninism. It's called democratic centralism and it's the idea that the council votes and then the majority decision is effectively made unanimous. It's the guiding governing principle of communism.
According to a study, Cape Coral, along with Fort Myers, likely has the highest number of vacant "ghost homes" among major US metro areas, with approximately 126,000 vacant properties. These vacant homes are impacting property values and creating safety concerns. The study, based on Census Bureau data, defines vacant homes as properties with no one living in them at the time of the census.
Maybe it's just me and the way I was raised and being poor most of my life, but reading this email article from the city, it just seems to me they are spending so much money I can't even get my mind around it...I don't understand the reasoning or grasp the purpose of it all...what's the end goal? What's the intended ROI? Is it a legacy quest to be remembered for all the "accomplishments"? I am honestly asking for some clarity and understanding here...I don't spend my own money without asking these questions, and I don't understand how or why 'they' do...
I really want to know why the citizens have to pay for underground piping for our utilities??? The City should pay for that! We pay to connect and pay a monthly fee. Why the hell do we pay for all of it??? Name another city that does this.
Greed is Destroying Cape Coral!!
The developers want to add this parcel for its waterfront and River Access!!!
Leave the Parks alone !!
They took Yellow Fever Creek Preserve, nothing is safe, all so they can have more tax dollars. Why do they need more tax dollars? Because they extended the city employee retirement drop period to 8 years so now the city retirement fund is underfunded by millions of dollars. Why does most of the city billion billion-dollar budget go to city employees? Not that they should not get paid but over 70 percent of the budget seems like to much...
Thank you for all who keep reaching out and want change!
All information has been thoroughly investigated and reported by the Take Out the Trash Committee of Cape Coral and/or its authorized volunteers!
