Lehigh Acres Community Council has started an exploratory committee to look into cityhood.
If this happens Lehigh Acres could become the second-largest city in Southwest Florida.
The last two times those voters were asked; they rejected incorporation by more than 3-1. Back in 1996, just over 10,000 Lehigh Acres residents voted. And in 2008 Lehigh Acres has nearly 78,000 residents in the community.
There now are 28,100 registered voters in the Lehigh Acres Fire District.
“It’s just another Florida scam, and if Lehigh become a city your taxes will be raised and we cannot allow that,” said Frank Lohlein, who heads Citizens Against Increased Taxes.
The Community of Lehigh Acres Fire district is nearly 143 square miles.
“It’s a matter of self-control,” members of the community council said. “The ability to determine your future. Sometimes Lehigh Acres is not really on their (county officials’) radar screen.”
An incorporation study needs to be done but it could be put on the 2016 elections of all pieces are done in time but most likely to happen in 2018 or 2020
The exploratory committee would have to get voters input on services such as law enforcement, fire department, ECWCD and the street lighting district.
Lohlein insists during a phone interview that incorporation would drive taxes higher and cost residents plenty.
“A third of us are seniors, some on fixed budgets,” Lohlein said. “A third are young people struggling to pay bills. The other third is a relatively well-off middle class pushing this.”
I am not in favor of Lehigh becoming a city. The benefits, I believe are outweighed by the increase in taxes to a struggling community. Lehigh was one of the top 3 areas in the country that was hit by the real estate crash and the population is still reeling from it.
As a Realtor here, I can tell you that while it appears the market has stabilized, there are still many homes that sit vacant and abandoned and arent even on the radar. More and more foreclosures to come. People don’t have the money to fund a bigger fire department, a separate police force and all the employees that go along with administration. Rent prices have gone up, home prices are increasing and yet people are still struggling that live here. Investors drive the price of homes up, which in turn drive the rents up. More taxes on an overburdened population will not help. Lehigh is a rural community and should remain just that. We are not a city, we don’t have the beaches or the direct access canals that Ft Myers Beach and Cape Coral has. We will never have the seasonal revenue that those two city’s have. And in comparison, most of Ft Myers is still unincorporated. Why should we become a city when even Ft Myers hasn’t. This is all about getting the county to notice us? Well they will of course when extra revenue flows in to their coffers, but will Lehigh really benefit from it? I think not!
Jane we can not afford not to incorperate, we already have the Fire dist. we would still use the Sheriff Dept that we already pay taxes to that would change I agree But we would have control of a lot of funds that slip thru the cracks at the county level. We would have control on more zoning issues that would control a lot of crap buildings in the area, if you are in real estate take a drive thru the area, looks bad but instead of trying to take action at the county level we could go to OUR city hall and get imidiate action not what we are getting now. I could go on but my blood is stating to boil, I want to get more code violation on film so I can go to the county Ha HA
The Lee County Commissioners will do everything they can to make Lehigh residents believe that there is no money. This is absolutely false. I have personally seen Frank Mann say that there was no money for much needed activity centers in our area then use Lehigh money to fund the JetBlue stadium. Wake up people!