Last week my editorial was about the Council treating the budget as if they are spending monopoly money. Not those paper bills printed at the print shop – real money locals worked hard to earn.

The Council did reject the 3 mills starting rate the staff wanted, lowering the maximum millage to 2.8, still a significant tax increase of  approximately 12%.

Let’s hope it goes down a whole lot more. We will certainly give the Council their standing ovation if they get down to the 2.4756 mills: the rollback rate - the rate needed to generate the same tax revenue in the coming year as what we got this year.

We surely could find surplus funds we could cut – if we really want to. But then, when we do find ways to cut costs, we just seem to keep the excess for new things we don’t really need.

•       We are saving about $200,000 per year, now that we don’t send two employees down to the Fill to earn overtime every weekend monitoring the “No Parking” signs 8 hours a day.

•      We are anticipating significantly less tax dollars will be needed for Ridesharing with $2 ride fees and promised credits for Freebee ads.  

•      We hired Langton, a grant consultant, expecting to find opportunities to get significant grant help.

•      We hired Bishop, Rosasco And Co, at $111,000, government finance consulting services to assist with oversight of budget concerns, particularly with wastewater and the village marina, expecting to find major improvement in the budgeting of those department.

  
  

  Bishop, Rosasco And Co serves as Marathon’s entire finance department for $461,000.  Our finance department costs us $1.6 million.  

   

Budget workshops this year have been scheduled – 3 PM in the afternoon, 3 days in a row, August 4-5-6.  How’s that for encouraging public participation?

Three Budget Task Force meetings were held last July. The committee came up with some excellent ideas.  But no Budget Task Force meetings are scheduled this year.

Islamorada has talented residents with amazing business successes that should be encouraged to help with our budget issues. Yet it looks like the Village would prefer little public involvement and the shortest budget meetings possible.  No line item discussions, that’s for sure.

Budget Facts from last year:

Staff: 126 fulltime employees, 6 parttime and undisclosed # of seasonal employees

Final budget last year, all Village Funds:

·      Total Revenue: $59,481,183

·      Total Expenditures: $65,461,709

·      Total Reduction in Reserves, all funds last year: $5,821,537

Final budget last year – General Fund only:

·      Total Revenue: $24,180,783

·      Total Expenses: $23,254,051 plus Transfer out of 1,985,811

·      Total Reduction in Reserves, General Fund: last year: $975,090

In the minutes from last years’ budget hearing: “Manager Saunders stated that the reserves were acceptable from a legal standpoint, but not from a risk standpoint.

Manager Saunders noted he had negotiated an emergency line of credit with Centennial Bank and that the Village would only pay interest fees if we needed to use the funds.”

The Village approved a $20 million line of credit at 5 ½% intended for use if we experience a hurricane and do not have sufficient reserves.

Pay Raises: We keep hearing that the staff is expecting to get a significant pay increase to make up for not getting one last year (except for the fire department, where an increase in salaries of $521,000 was approved last September). 

Personnel costs in the current budget are approximately $17.2 million.  A 3% increase would likely add about $500,000 to our budget.

Wastewater: Last week the Council selected a contractor to replace the North Plantation Key Wastewater Pump Station.  The staff selection committee’s #1 ranked contractor, at $6.7 million, was bypassed for #2 at $7.3 million, almost $600,000 more than the low bid. Looked like a problem with the selection process.

With wastewater costs like these, let’s hope the Council made the correct decision. We’ve been paying excessive costs for wastewater problems for far too many years.

The Village expects to use grant funding to pay for most of the $7.3 million – taking funding away from important canal restoration funding. 

But $7.3 million may not be the only major project needed to actually fix the ongoing MM92 raw sewage pipeline rupture problem. 

Last September, the Village had estimates of over $2.2 Million/mile to replace portions of the PVC pipe that carries raw sewage to Key Largo for treatment. That potential cost would be on top of the $7.3 million.  Did we hear the staff right – costs above the $7.3 million would be borrowed from the line of credit?

Window screens: We still can’t get over this… the Council approved a $24,400 contract a few months ago to fix the windows in the Russell Cottage at the Green Turtle Hammock.  $24,000 just so we can open and close the windows.   

Now the windows have been fixed, but we need screens to keep the mosquitoes out!  The Council approved another $24,400 contract to repair the screens.  We wonder who will give up the comfort of air conditioning to enjoy the $48,000 spent to open the windows there?

Marathon versus Islamorada

Why is Marathon so thrifty compared to Islamorada?

They have a population of 10,000…. 43% more than Islamorada’s 7,000 population.

Their current millage rate – 2.0631; Islamorada’s 2.65. 

Why can’t our budget be more like Marathon’s?

Difference in dollars:

Marathon’s property tax for 2025-2026: just over $10 million ($1,000/resident)

Islamorada’s property tax for 2025-2026: just over $18 million ($2,571/resident)

Marathon’s Reserves: $27.5 Million

Islamorada’s Reserves: $13 million.    

And to top that off, the sheriff charges Marathon less for law enforcement services than he charges Islamorada. Better negotiators?

Everyone all over this country and the state are trying diligently to find ways to cut their budget.  Why not here?

Come on guys.  Let’s tighten the belt!  If you can’t find ways to do it – try inviting DOGE to town to do what they do - “identify and eliminate unnecessary spending, maximize efficiency, and improve fiscal stewardship.”

I bet they could help us. Give it a try. What are we afraid of?

An election is coming!

Tom