Welcome to Sparker's Digest, a weekly roundup of news for Collier County voters, with a focus on state and local government. It’s produced by Sparker’s Soapbox publisher Sandy Parker, whose mission is to facilitate and encourage informed voting in Collier County and across Florida.

Collier County Government News

1. Recommended Tourism Marketing Budget Sparks Concerns from Local Hotels, Businesses

The recommended budget policy for all county divisions is to maintain funding at a "flat rate" — and for the tourism division that would mean the exclusion of an extra $5 million-plus "stimulus" allocated for advertising this year to help the tourism industry recover from back-to-back hurricanes, said John Mullins, the county's director of communications. (Naples Daily News, 7/16/25)($)

2. Better Dialog Urged Over Clam Bay

Representatives of two neighborhoods with an interest in the Clam Bay — Seagate and Naples Cay — are being invited to a fall workshop meeting of the Pelican Bay Services Division (PBSD), which currently manages and monitors the bay. Commissioner Dan Kowal is organizing those opportunities. The workshop is tentatively scheduled for September. (The Naples Press, 7/20/25)($)

3. Fields of Dreams: Project Brings New Life to Immokalee Sports Complex

In Immokalee, where few places exist for young people to gather and stay active, the sports complex serves as more than just a recreational facility. The "Fields of Dreams" project will convert two grass fields to artificial turf, add restrooms, and build a vending facility. The improvements also include pool resurfacing, new pumps, and improved filtration systems. (FOX4Now, 7/17/25)

4. Bed Taxes Can Be Used to Repair, Expand Sun-N-Fun Lagoon

Collier County’s most popular aquatics park, Sun-N-Fun Lagoon in North Naples, will now be able to fund its remaining repairs and new water features through tourism tax dollars. That’s because a state-required study by Chicago-based Hunden Partners showed Sun-N-Fun, located within North Collier Regional Park at 1500 Livingston Road, drew at least 173,100 visitors yearly — 46% from outside Collier — several of whom also spend money at restaurants, shops and hotels. (Gulfshore Business, 7/18/25)($)

5. Collier to Bring Strict Breeder Ordinance: 'Make It Hurt,' Commissioner Says

On July 8, commissioners delayed voting on a proposed hobby breeder ordinance, saying it needed to be stronger, tighter and more enforceable. As local animal shelters buckle under rising intake, the delay underscores what advocates call a long-ignored crisis. (Naples Daily News, 7/18/25)($)

6. Commissioners Allocate Rest of Sales Tax

Five projects, including a new jury room and the Vanderbilt Beach Road extension, will receive the remaining $44 million in sales tax infrastructure funds approved by voters in 2018. The full estimated cost of the projects is $46.95 million. Although that exceeds the current sales surtax infrastructure fund revenues, county officials expect that additional interest will be generated over time. (The Naples Press, 7/18/25)($)

7. Planning Board Delays Crucial Vote on Proposed Costco in East Naples

A second Collier County Costco is proposed on a nearly 26-acre site, near the intersection of Collier Boulevard and Rattlesnake Snake Hammock Road, within the Hacienda Lakes Planned Unit Development. While the site is zoned for commercial uses, including gas stations and general merchandise stores, the project as proposed would not meet code. (Naples Daily News, 7/18/25)

Florida Government News: Immigration

8. Inside ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ Detainees Report Relentless Mosquitoes, Limited Water

Two weeks after it opened, a temporary migrant detention center in the Everglades is facing expensive logistical challenges: portable toilets routinely back up, sewage needs to be collected and trucked out, and swarms of mosquitoes attack detainees and staff alike. (Washington Post, 7/17/25)($)

9. Florida’s Disaster Pipeline Funnels Millions to Politically Connected Contractors

The authority to build the new detention center comes from an executive order DeSantis signed in January 2023 declaring an immigration emergency and renewed 15 times since. Florida emergency rules allow the Governor to suspend state laws, building codes and the public, competitive bidding process to award millions of dollars from an account he alone controls. The governor has used this same disaster pipeline for years to funnel billions of dollars to contractors with political ties to himself and the GOP. (Orlando Sentinel, 7/20/25)($)

10. State: ’Alligator Alcatraz’ Lawsuit Filed in Wrong Federal Court Venue

As they continue to fight a legal effort by environmental groups to block an immigrant-detention center in the Everglades, lawyers for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration argued Monday that the lawsuit was filed in the wrong federal-court district. (News Service of Florida via WGCU, 7/21/25)

11. Was Suit to Halt ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Filed in Wrong Court? or Is It ‘Judge Shopping’?

Paul Schwiep, an attorney for the environmental groups, responded during a virtual court hearing on Monday that the southern district was the proper venue since “a substantial portion of the events” took place in Miami-Dade County. Later, in a statement, Schwiep called the state’s concerns about the jurisdiction “an obvious attempt at judge-shopping” since the newly-assigned judge presiding over the case had recently found Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in contempt for ignoring her orders in another case. (Associated Press via Tampa Bay Times, 7/21/25)

12. Immigration Enforcement Faces Detention Bed Crunch

Federal officials are “overwhelmed” by the number of undocumented immigrants being locked up as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan because of a detention-bed shortage, according to a key player in Florida’s efforts to assist the White House. The capacity issue is expected to escalate in Florida in the coming weeks as sheriffs and police chiefs ramp up arrests and detention of undocumented immigrants. (News Service of Florida via WLRN, 7/23/25)

Florida Government News: CFO Appointment

13. DeSantis Picks Ally as Florida’s New Chief Financial Officer

Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis called “the most conservative senator in the state of Florida,” will serve as CFO through 2026, when the seat is up for election. Florida’s CFO position has been vacant for more than half a year after Jimmy Patronis left the seat to run for Congress. (Miami Herald, 7/16/25)($)

14. New Trump-DeSantis Proxy War Launches Over Key Florida Job

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was just getting back into President Donald Trump’s good graces. But a new pick for a key state job lit a fuse in MAGA World and threatens to unravel it all. (Politico, 7/16/25)

15. Blaise Ingoglia Takes Office as State CFO, but Trump-Fueled Fight Looms

The latest appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis, state Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, was sworn into office amid questions about his prospects of winning next year's election because his selection was opposed by President Trump. (USA Today Network-Florida via Tallahassee Democrat, 7/21/25)

Florida Government News: Other

16. Redistricting Fight Teed Up in Federal Court

As the state appeals a Leon County circuit judge’s ruling that a congressional redistricting plan violated the Florida Constitution, another battle about the plan is poised to play out in federal court. The two cases, filed by voting-rights groups and other plaintiffs, involve different legal issues. But they both center on a decision by DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature to overhaul a North Florida district that in the past elected Black Democrat Al Lawson. (News Service of Florida via WUFT, 7/22/25)

17. Top Lieutenant Governor Pick Says He and DeSantis ‘Agree on Pretty Much Everything’

With the appointment of Florida’s new chief financial officer now behind him, Gov. Ron DeSantis is turning to his next big personnel decision: choosing a new lieutenant governor. Now, Tampa state Senator Jay Collins appears to be a top contender. (WFLX, 7/17/25)

18. Gov. DeSantis Pens Deal for Florida to Lead Everglades Reservoir Project with Army Corps

The nearly $4 billion Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir project is a key part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and seeks to reduce harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges and send more water south. The agreement aims to complete the project by 2029, five years ahead of the previous estimate. (Naples Daily News, 7/18/25; Governor's Press Release, 7/18/25)

19. Finally Ready: A Giant Reservoir Opens Just Over the Lee County Line. Will It Be Enough?

With a chest-rumbling roar, four of Earth's biggest pumps got to work July 15 on a project a quarter-century in the making: the C-43 reservoir. (The News-Press via Naples Daily News, 7/15/25)($)

20. New State Education Commissioner Prioritizes Parents' Rights on First Day on the Job

Beginning his tenure as Florida’s Commissioner of Education, Anastasios Kamoutsas emphasized policies and guidelines aligned with so-called "parental rights and protections" in a memorandum to education leaders. (WLRN Public Media, 7/15/25)

21. Florida Supreme Court Upholds Congressional Map That Weakens Black Voters’ Influence

The Florida Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the state’s congressional map on Thursday, a decision that weakens the influence of Black voters in the state and could make it easier to draw gerrymandered maps in the future. (The Guardian, 7/17/25)

News from Our Representatives

• The Melo Minute, from District 82 State Representative Lauren Melo, 7/18/25

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2026 Election News: In the Governor's Race

22. Jay Collins Isn't Ruling Out a Run for Governor: 'Why Would You Not' Want to be Governor?

Collins is among a small group of DeSantis loyalists in a state legislature rapidly drifting out of the governor's control, placing him as a likely top contender for the vacant Lieutenant Governor position. Elevating Collins to the second-in-command role would set him up to run with DeSantis' blessing, as the governor's candidate. (The Floridian, 7/21/25)

23. Paul Renner Told DeSantis He Wants to Run for Governor

Former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, now on the state's higher education Board of Education, in May led the Board's charge to block Santa Ono from becoming the President of the University of Florida, pointing to the former University of Michigan's past support of DEI initiatives. (X via The Floridian, 7/15/25)

2026 Election News: In the Congressional Race

24. Thanks to $1M Loan, Jim Schwartzel Posts a $1.2M Quarter in Race to Succeed Byron Donalds

Sun Broadcasting President Jim Schwartzel has quickly pulled together $1.2 million for his campaign to succeed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds. That includes $1 million the Fort Myers Republican put in himself in the form of a candidate loan. The 2020 race was the last time no incumbent ran, and nine Republicans ultimately appeared on the Primary ballot that year. (Florida Politics, 7/21/25)