The Marco Island City Council voted 4-3 against adding a 3% fee on all bills from Lee County Electric Cooperative, the island’s main electric provider. The council also abandoned a controversial proposal to add electronic tolls to the island’s bridges.
A Marco Island neighbor says the council doesn’t need an electric rate increase:
Marco Island City Council rejects electric fee proposal and bridge toll plan
The electric fee ordinance, which was previously in place from 2004-2009, was reintroduced at Monday’s council meeting. If approved, it would have generated an estimated $1.5 million in additional revenue for the island, with plans to allocate all funds to the capital replacement plan.
Ken Honacker, a Marco Island resident and former council member, opposed the measure.
“They probably don’t need this franchise money, they’re capped to certain sum of money, anything over that they can’t spend, you’d be putting it under a mattress there’s no point in raising the money,” Honacker said…