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Each week through the Primary, The Breeze will ask the candidates for Cape Coral City Council an issue-related question. In the interest of fairness, each candidate is limited to the same amount of space, about 100 words, for their response.
Cape Coral City Council races are non-partisan races. Council members qualify in their respective districts but are elected at-large. This means all registered city voters may cast a ballot in each race regardless of where they live and the party to which they are affiliated, if any. This year's Primary, on Aug. 18, features three Cape Coral City Council races: Mayor and the seats for District 1 and 6. District 4, with only two candidates, will be on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot.
The candidates below are running for the mayor’s seat on the Cape Coral City Council:
Question of the Week: What are your budget priorities? What, if any, departmental requests, do you support?
• Lisa Cohen-Adkinson
My top priority is cutting bloat at the top before asking residents for another dollar. Why does the city manager need two assistant city managers? Between those three positions alone, taxpayers are covering nearly $1 million. With a $1.09 billion city budget, residents deserve a full forensic audit, line by line, before any department gets a blank-check increase. I support funding that keeps Fire and Police strong; both are essential and well-run. But administrative overhead, outside contractor markups, and duplicate management layers should be the first place we look for savings, not the last.
• Richard Erickson
My first budget priority is protecting core city services while restoring fiscal discipline. Public safety, roads, utilities, storm preparedness, parks, and customer service should always come before unnecessary spending or pet projects. Every department should justify new funding requests based on measurable results, not simply because they've always received budget increases. I support investments that improve permitting, strengthen infrastructure, and make government more efficient. Before asking taxpayers for another dollar, we must eliminate waste, reduce duplication, pursue grants, and ensure every expenditure provides real value to the residents of Cape Coral.
• John Gunter (I)
I will continue to prioritize public safety, infrastructure maintenance, and focus capital dollars on transportation, utilities and other infrastructure while pursuing state and federal grants rather than local tax increases. I support departmental requests that are needed for public safety, infrastructure resilience, or transportation needs without growing government unnecessarily.
• Richard Leon
Every tax dollar is entrusted to us by hardworking residents, and we have a duty to spend it wisely, transparently, and responsibly. My priority is changing how we build the budget. As soon as our new Council is elected, residents should help set priorities through town halls across every district. Council will then adopt a strategic plan that reflects those community priorities, and every departmental request should be measured against that plan. Every line item must earn its place, not because it was funded before, but because it advances our shared priorities. I support investments in public safety, critical infrastructure, and essential city services.
• Kara Brooke Rodgers
My budget priority is spending that matches what Cape Coral can actually afford, especially with property tax reform coming down the pipeline. An audit is already underway, and once it's complete, council needs to actually use it: identify where we're falling short and correct course, not file it away. I also want every proposal that reaches the dais examined for what's missing, not just what's presented, because hidden costs are how projects blow past their budgets. I support prioritizing core infrastructure and essential services like public safety over new discretionary spending until we have a clearer financial picture.
• Dan Sheppard
My top budget priorities remain public safety -- fully protecting our police and fire budgets -- and maintaining our utilities. Crucially, we must stay on top of our UEP expansion throughout our growing community by aggressively targeting federal or state grants to try and minimize the burden on our residents. Additionally, city council must adjust parameters and expectations around procurement. By modernizing our purchasing processes and raising efficiency expectations on smaller projects, we can eliminate waste and capture significant cost savings. Streamlining these levels ensures every tax dollar goes further to responsibly support our growing city.