Tuesday marks the end of the road for the 16 people running for Marco Island and Naples city councils.

Some will take a seat on their respective councils, while others will spend the next four years trying to make a difference from the other side of the council dais.

A combined eight seats — four on Marco Island, and four, including the mayor’s seat, in Naples — are up for election Tuesday. After months of campaigning, candidates will learn their fates when the polls close at 7 p.m.

Polls open at 7 a.m. for votes in the city contests, a property tax amendment and presidential preference races for Democrats and Republicans.

Marco Island candidates are split between pro- and anti-sewers. Pro-sewer candidates are Councilman Bill Trotter, Jerry Gibson, Frank Recker and Wayne Waldack; anti-sewer candidates are Joe Batte, Andrew Guidry, Roger Hall and Butch Neylon.

Representatives for both sides of the sewer debate said Monday they were optimistic about their chances.

“I feel our efforts in making our candidates’ names household names will pay off,” said Godfrey Davies, an anti-sewer strategist.

John Arceri, a pro-sewer strategist and former Marco Island councilman, said he hoped tonight’s results will put an end to the divisiveness caused by the sewers.

“Everyone I’m talking to says they’re going to support what the results are,” he said. “There’s a real feeling of reconciliation going on right now.”

Candidates for Naples City Council are Dorothy Hirsch, Teresa Heitmann, Gloria Kovacs, Councilman Johnny Nocera, Councilman John Sorey and Margaret “Dee” Sulick. Mayoral candidates are Mayor Bill Barnett and Henry Kennedy.

Both Marco Island and Naples City Council elections are nonpartisan, and council members represent the whole community, not a specific district.

Dave Carpenter, the qualifying officer at the Collier County Supervisor of Elections, said his office is expecting high turnout in both cities.

“As we move east in Collier County, the turnout drops off,” he said Monday. “There’s usually higher turnout in coastal areas.”

Carpenter said he wouldn’t be surprised if more than 60 percent of Naples registered voters came out to vote.

Turnout in the 2004 Naples City Council election was about 54 percent, Carpenter said. The increased turnout, he said, could be because of the presidential primary.

Turnout is expected to be higher on Marco Island, Carpenter said, where up to 70 percent of the island’s 12,361 registered voters — about 8,652 people — could be coming out to vote.

“With the intensity of the election, I can see us having a very high turnout,” Carpenter said.

The largest turnout in Marco Island’s history was in 1997, when the city’s incorporation was on the ballot. About 71 percent of registered voters turned out, compared to the 67 percent of registered voters who came out to vote for the City Council that same year.

Since then, turnout on Marco Island has held steady at around 50 percent.

In both Naples and on Marco Island, voters came out in droves to participate in early voting. About 4,719 people voted at Marco Island’s public library, while another 2,421 people voted at Naples City Hall during the early voting period.

Those numbers don’t necessarily reflect the number of people who voted in City Council elections in either city, since any county resident could vote at any of the early voting polling places.

But City Council elections aren’t the only thing voters will have to cast their ballot for Tuesday.

Collier County residents also will be asked to vote on a constitutional amendment and cast their vote in the presidential preference primary.

The elements of the tax-reform proposal include a $25,000 increase in the homestead exemption; portability that allows people to take all or a portion of their Save Our Homes tax protection when they move; a 10 percent cap on property value assessment increases for non-homestead properties; and a break for business taxes.

Collier County agencies could lose more than $20 million if voters approve the amendment.

Carpenter said voters need to make sure they know where their polling place is, or their vote won’t be counted.

“Under Florida law they must vote in the proper precinct for their vote to be tabulated,” Carpenter said.

“If someone goes to the wrong polling place, the clerk will look them up in our system and direct them to the proper polling place.”

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