Naples residents fight property tax hike

Naples is looking at a property tax hike, and residents are fighting back.

On Wednesday, the city council will take a final vote but not without some neighbors pushing back.

The city’s chief financial officer said the city would use the additional $4.8 million in revenue to fund salary increases, plus pay for things like street paving and technology services.

During Wednesday’s public hearing, the council planned to take a final vote on the proposed hike.

No one wants to hear their property taxes are going up, but it may happen starting next year in the city of Naples.

“I know that we’ve had some significant weather challenges, obviously, and the city has had to cover some of those costs, but so have some of the homeowners, and we’ve had to cover a lot of costs that were unanticipated as well,” said Deno Yiankes of Naples.

Yiankes lives in old Naples and bought his home in 2017. He believes the city council does a great job of putting things on hold and believes they should do the same with this.

Property values in Naples have soared in the last year, despite Hurricane Ian, which will already bring in millions more in revenue.

On top of the property tax increase, the city also has more than $15 million in its reserve fund.

There is a petition going around against raising property taxes in the city of Naples. Someone started it Tuesday night. It has more than 1,200 signatures, and many of those people are planning to speak at the public hearing Wednesday night.