To the editor:

For the record we attended the July 14, meeting but we were unable to speak because of time constraints.

We own 11-plus acres in the northwest with one single family home. We purchased our property in 2000 and as part of our due diligence we inquired with the city regarding our expected liability concerning future utilities. We were told that there was an ordinance in place regarding large parcels, and we could expect to pay for 5-6 homesites (ERU).

Imagine if you can our surprise when we opened our proposed assessment and discovered we were being billed for 36.5 10,000 square-foot sites ($96,323). Imagine our further shock when we called the city and were told that the ordinance changed in 2006 regarding large parcels. We and many other large parcel owners purchased our property in “good faith.” Good faith that we would be allowed to own, develop, use, sell, etc. based upon the ordinances in place. At the very least you owe large parcel owners the right to be billed based on the ordinance in place at the time of their purchase or the option of removing their property from the city of Cape Coral. This is the third time we’ve been through a utility project in Cape Coral. Our first experience was in the early ’90s in the southeast near Sun Splash. We received water and irrigation water. There was no threat of “loss of title” attached to the “betterment fee.” And it was not placed on our property tax bill.

What you are proposing is actual theft of our property. If you keep adding fees, taxes, and assessments to our tax bills at some point all will be unable or unwilling to pay.

The above paragraph is what we had hoped to say at the July 14, meeting. After listening to the sincere people that were able to speak, it has occurred to me that the city government has no interest in the citizen, specifically not these citizens. We are a more abstraction. The city government is only interested in a citizen. A compliant tranquil, obsequious, citizen willing to go along with your ill-aimed, unwarranted, and bloated schemes. Indeed, those citizens, broke, unemployed, retired on fixed incomes, single parents, young families widows and widowers have served their purposes. Now we are to be tossed aside, our property taken from us only to be resold to a citizen at our expense, bur for the good of the city.

Tom Gamso

Cape Coral