$65 million in Islamorada annual expenses approved at a record breaking 32-minute budget hearing! On Sep 4, a millage rate of 2.65 (same as last year) was approved by the Village Council along with a budget that itemizes over $23M for costs for the General Fund and over $65M in costs across all Village funds.

Value of Islamorada Properties up $593,613,080 (over $1/2 Billion) this year.

Although the millage rate remained the same, property taxes are projected to increase  for a majority of property owners, as most properties had the taxable value increased.

Staff Costs: Major costs in the approved budget were for the Village staff at over $16M.  Of that total - Fire Rescue employees accounted for costs of over $7.5M.

To ease the costs, four staff positions were eliminated and health insurance for employees’ families was changed from 97% paid by the Village to 80%.  Family health insurance coverage has been a controversial and costly part of the budget since it was added as an employee benefit several years ago without prior council approval.

The Fills is no longer leased by the Village from FDOT/FDEP and the overtime cost of weekend Public Works employees monitoring for illegal parking has been eliminated.

Increases: No across the board cost of living increase for employees this year, but as a result of a salary study done for the Village Human Resources Director, 57 employees will have salary increases. The study indicated those employees had salaries below an acceptable level. The increases ranged from $1,249 to $2,744.  As a result of their contract, all 38 salaried firefighters got raises ranging from $5,695 to $13,517, with total salary increases for Fire Rescue near $286,000.  Total salary increases for all employees: $442,868.

Projected staff overtime for the year - $678,000 - but now all overtime must be approved by the Village Manager.