Also a parent and an Islamorada resident and taxpayer.

Who’s minding the store?

We hear repeatedly from both the mayor and the Village Manager that the reason few residents attend village workshops and meetings – residents are completely satisfied with the Village and the decisions made by staff and council.

I do not believe that and according to our readers neither do scores of residents.

Trust and Transparency: I do not feel residents have complete trust in the information provided by the Village.

Transparency builds trust by reducing uncertainty, it signals honesty and helps people verify that words and actions align.

When transparency is missing, trust suffers.

Some examples:

“No Tax RATE Increase” In Saunders letter to the community last Monday, he again rehashed about the budget approved weeks ago, with “no rate increase.”

That is misleading. It is not an achievement. Saunders stated that for the last two years “The current Village Council has not raised Islamorada’s millage rate despite rising costs….”

What???   It appears he is trying to help the incumbents win reelection by failing to mention the same rate resulted in a 7% tax increase this year and 9% last year.

That equals to over a 16% raise in taxes in their tenure.

The tax increase especially impacted properties without the benefit of a homestead exemption, including second homes, rental homes, businesses. The vast majority of taxpayers.

• The 2.65 mills approved in Sept 2024 generated a total property tax of $16,738,600

• The 2.65 mills approved in Sept 2025 generated a total property tax of $18,264,500 - a 9.11% tax increase over previous year.

• The 2.65 mills approved in Sept 2026 generated a total property tax of $19,527,500 – a 6.91% tax increase over previous year.

That is an increase in actual property tax of $2,788,900 in just two years, $2.8 million extra to spend without increasing the rate!

That rate claim by the manager is meant to take your eye off the ball, while the 16% tax increase is the bottom line.

REDUCING the millage rate would be an achievement.

A close look at the budget details and bills paid by the Village shows significant areas to cut spending.

I submit that an efficiency audit would expose much waste and more efficient ways to control spending in 2027.

We seem to fear an audit that is 27 years overdue.

Why?

If you want to brag, show real results, not slight of hand.

We are smarter than that.

2026-2027 Budget: When the Council approved the 2.65 millage rate on Sep 28, 2026, there was no corresponding budget for the Council and public to review before approval.

The mysteriously unseen budget was approved anyway…. virtually sight unseen, except by the finance director.

The October Council meeting was just a week later – yet still no budget was provided for review.

As of the Oct 27 writing of this letter, the mystery budget approved Sep 28

is quite a challenge to find on the Village website. It’s not under the Finance Department menu where prior budgets are.

Still don’t know if Fire Chief Abel got the 19% PAY INCREASE the council had approved earlier.

Lower Matecumbe Canal Culvert Project: The Village signed a $9 million contract for a canal improvement project on Lower Matecumbe.

Residents and the Sea Base around MM74 had already put up with a total disaster on the Bike path there for a couple years.

It got worse… for the last year residents have endured the noise, dust and dirt, garbage, staging of equipment, and destruction of the bike path.

What is the real status of this project?

The $9 million project was approved 18 months ago and since then - not a peep out of the Village to the public about the good, the bad, or the ugly.

Don’t residents have a right to be informed? What is the delay on this critical project?

The council has as one of their achievements this term, complete with photo ops, a grant to improve this area of the bike path. Yet the bike path is a public relations nightmare for those involved in oversight and has created much angst for the residents.

Council Meeting Agendas: Why can’t complex meeting agendas that are typically 500 to 900 pages long be provided to the public more than a couple days in advance.  How about agendas made public a week in advance?

Often additional pages provided to Council at the meeting are unavailable to the public.  Add-ons should be prohibited after the agenda deadline. OOPS! What deadline?

The members of council meet with the manager and senior staff members individually to be briefed before the council meetings, to assure council members understand the agenda. Those meetings sometimes last several hours each.

What is the purpose of spending extra hours of staff time for each member of council:

It appears they want to avoid the need to discuss the details in front of the public at the council meeting?

Staff explanations of the agenda should be done in public at the council meeting.

Public Comment: The mayor bragged about how many times he allowed the public to comment at a recent council meeting. Let’s remind him – public comment is required by law during a majority of council agenda items.

It’s not because of his sense of civic duty… it is because he is required to do so.

Leadership hints:

• Amend the meeting procedures so that public comment is available with every agenda item.

• Stop approving major expenditures as part of a consent agenda without discussion and individual public comment.

• Provide opportunity for council/staff response to the public.

In conclusion, I repeat, our village lacks oversight and true organizational skills.

Tom

Click here to view the 2-hour Chamber of Commerce candidate forum that took place Oct 13, with the eight people running for a seat on the Islamorada Council. (Vice Mayor Sharon Mahoney, reelected unopposed)

Freebee is loved by many Islamorada locals and visitors as an affordable and convenient on‑demand rideshare service.

Beginning in July of this year, a $2/ride fee was added, intended to reduce the taxpayer burden for Village property owners. The contract price is $665,000 for 3 Freebee vehicles operating from 7 AM to midnight every day. Starting this year there will be no service on 4 major holidays.   An FDOT grant reimburses $276,665, leaving $388,335 to be covered by the Village.   The Village will receive a $5,000 credit monthly ($45,000 for first year) from Freebee starting in October for guaranteed advertising revenue, and 50% of any advertising revenue Freebee receives over $60,000. With well over 4000 riders/month on average, we expect the credit for riders to be over $100,000. With the FDOT grant, advertising revenue and $2/rider fees, we project the net amount left to be covered by Islamorada taxpayers will be about $240,000. By improving the service, there are opportunities for increases in ridership. Typically 20% - 30% of total requests each month are canceled, most likely because of lengthy waits that need to be addressed.

Ads on outside of Freebee vehicles: At the October Council meeting, it was explained that Village code prohibits advertising of goods and services, other than the Freebee ad itself, on the outside of the vehicles.

Why are some Freebee vehicles now advertising “Ride Smart,” an organization endorsed by FDOT to increase motorcycle safety awareness. Is this a violation of the contract and of the Village code?  Or is the Village making exceptions?

Freebee founders Jason Spiegel and Kris Kimball; Beep founders Kevin and Mark Reid.

Freebee Merger:Freebee, co-founded by Jason Spiegel and Kris Kimball,  has merged with Beep, an Orlando-area autonomous mobility company, in a deal announced last month. The merger combines two different approaches to the future of transportation. Freebee brings a human-driven microtransit operation. Beep brings autonomous vehicles, driving themselves with reduced or no human input. The companies will operate under the Beep name, but Freebee’s microtransit services will continue to operate under the Freebee brand. Their headquarters will be Beep’s current base in Orlando.

as reported last week.  Click here to read last week’s story. In summary: Yates filed a lawsuit in May 2024 claiming he was terminated without cause and the vote was improper. The court ruled that he was not terminated but rather his contract was not renewed.

The remaining question: When voting 3-2 to not renew, Yates argued that Councilman Henry Rosenthal should have recused himself, leaving a 2-2 vote when a majority would be required for non-renewal.

We reported that while the Yates lawsuit was covered by Village insurance, the Village had exceeded their $100,000 limit and therefore the Village is responsible for the total cost any remaining legal work.  

Village Attorney John Quick felt we needed to explain that the $100,000 limit was not for this single lawsuit, but for a cumulative amount spread amongst multiple cases.

The fact remains: now the Village is responsible for the Yates legal costs and are represented by both trial attorney Erica Hausdorff of Weiss Serota along with the attorney hired by the insurance company, Eric Stettin, also of Weiss Serota.

$28,290 to date in Village legal costs: The Village has been invoiced $28,290.02 by Weiss Serota for the Yates lawsuit from 2024 through September 2026. There will be additional cost at the increased rate of $325/hour for the trial, trial preparation, and pending brief that is yet to be billed from Oct 1 on.

Closing statements are due from Yates and Village by the close of business Nov 6. The judge will then rule shortly thereafter.

Does this legal cost signal the need to review the $100,000 threshold in the insurance policy?

Thank you Brian Schmitt and Jamie Engle for providing some real estate facts and figures!  We have summarized their findings to demonstrate the upward trends in the luxury real estate market this year. According to Florida Keys MLS statistics covering nearly the first nine months of 2026, Islamorada recorded approximately 123 residential sales, an 18% increase over the comparable period in 2025. Total sales volume: $253 million - up 29% Average sales price: $2.09 million - up 9% In September, Islamorada had 23% fewer single-family homes on the market than a year earlier, along with 38% fewer condominiums and townhouses. “Luxury properties” sold Keys-wide: 272 - up 27%; average price: $3.65 million “Luxury properties” sold in Upper Keys: 90 - up 30%; average price: $3.96 million   ****Luxury home defined by Coldwell Banker Schmitt as properties listed at $2.1 million or more

Sunday, November 1, 2026, 2:00:00 am clocks are turned backward 1 hour to Sunday, November 1, 2026, 1:00:00 am

Sunrise and sunset will be about 1 hour earlier on Nov 1, 2026 than the day before. There will be more light in the morning and less light in the evening.

This time  is often called Fall Back and Winter Time.

17 bills have already been pre-filed for the session scheduled to convene 3/2/27 and adjourn about 4/30/27. Click here to view bills as they are filed and other information about the upcoming session.

The bike path (and Florida State Park Heritage Trail) at MM73.5 - MM74.5 continues to be impossible to use for at least the last three years, now even worse with flooding conditions and continued use for staging construction projects. With more construction scheduled: culvert under U.S. 1 pending; elevating bike path, pending; replacing FKAA water pipeline on Lower Matecumbe, pending.