In June, 2024, the Village agreed to pay consultants, Miller Legg, $175,750, to create a master plan for the park. According to the Nov 10 staff report “The finalized Master Plan reflects the desired vision and conceptual plans for Founders Park as determined by the citizens, appointed and elected officials, and other stakeholders through community participation.” Does the plan reflect the community’s vision? Should specific unpopular suggestions be eliminated or at least listed as “need more public input?”

Storage in the hammock at the Hill Portions that may be questionable: 35,000 sq ft two-story community center and parking expected to cost near $50 million? The storage area in the hardwood hammock on “The Hill” bayside of Village Hall, with large maintenance building and 50 paved parking spaces. Better to restore the hammock - not reward for damage done with fancy storage paid by taxpayers.

According to a survey released last week by Florida Atlantic University nearly 50% of those questioned have considered leaving Florida.

• 90% of those surveyed are at least somewhat concerned about inflation; 56% are very concerned.

• 80% are concerned about housing affordability, with 49% very concerned.

• Nearly 50% say they’ve considered moving out of Florida due to cost of living.

We wonder what the results would show if those who participated were residents of the Florida Keys, or of Islamorada?

In Monroe County the median income is now $118.000 per year - the highest of all 67 counties in Florida. Result - in Islamorada a single person making $127,820 qualifies for affordable housing; family of 3 - $164,220.  These are not the incomes that are causing our valued workforce to head north. This is why “affordable housing” may be a misguided issue here. Click here for 2025 Village fact sheet.

Sheriff Rick Ramsay announced he will be refunding  $123,253 in excess operating funds to the Village.  The Sheriff had estimated his costs for the Village Law Enforcement services would be $3,079,678, the amount then approved during Islamorada hearings for the budget ending 9/30/25.

According to the final budget amendment for 2024-2025, to be approved Nov 10, 2025, Ramsay billed the Village just $2,852,954, $211,623 less than projected.  

The projected law enforcement cost for the current year, 2025-2026, is $3,474,321, an increase of $394,643 for the current year.

King tides were back this week, with full moon Nov 5. The full moon last Wed morning was the closest the moon has been to Earth since Feb 2019. The closer the moon is to Earth, the stronger its gravitational pull is on the oceans.

The photograph is the moon rising over the ocean in Islamorada last week… looking much like a sunrise!

King tides are exceptionally high tides that happen a few times a year when the moon and Earth align to strengthen the gravitational pull on the ocean, regularly during a full moon in spring or fall.

Democracy means far more than the right to vote every two years. It means the right to participate in every aspect of community decision-making. People must believe that they can take part.

On Monday Nov 10 at 4PM our Village Council will be meeting in a private Executive Session to discuss litigation strategy for a lawsuit against the Village filed by a prior Village Manager – Ted Yates. 

The nonsense has to stop. Yates came to Islamorada on with a one-year contractual term and served at the pleasure of the Village Council. Before the contract was to auto-renew, a 3-2 vote of Council (Jolin, Mahoney and Rosenthal, with Pinder and Gregg dissenting) chose not to allow the contract to renew.

Therefore, it expired at the end of its initial term. 

Village council members had their reasons for non-renewal. Yates and his attorney came up with the ridiculous notion that anyone who had previously disagreed with Yates’ actions as manager should have recused him/herself.  That’s ludicrous. As an example, Supreme Court Justice Kagan argued for ObamaCare, as solicitor general, in front of the Supreme Court.  When appointed to the Supreme Court later on, Kagan voted for the approval of ObamaCare. Did she recuse herself because she argued in public to uphold the law?  No. And there was no recourse, criticism or lawsuit.

The Yates lawsuit (filed 10 months after his separation) has no basis and claims “termination” circumstances that are simply not covered in the employment contract’s very specific “without cause” termination provision. 

The contract spells out the circumstances – there are only four – in which Yates would be entitled to severance.  Not allowing the contract to automatically renew is, of course, not one of them.

Our Village attorney’s associate commented that the case should be dismissed.  After conferring with several of my attorney associates with employment law expertise, I strongly agree.

So after 18 months why hasn’t the Village:

- filed a motion to dismiss?

- filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings?

 -filed a motion for summary judgment?

None of these legal maneuvers have been taken by our attorney.  Yet they are the logical legal steps to be taken after acknowledging the legal weaknesses of a lawsuit such as this.

I am not going to detail various reasons that the council voted not to renew the Yates contract.  Suffice it to say, they exist.  Ask the council members serving then.

We have kicked this lawsuit down the road for 18 months. Some want to offer a cash settlement to make it go away.  That is the easy way out.

When you are right, you must be strong and determined.

My final takes:

The law community has figured out that the Village will cave and pay, rather than stand behind their decisions. 

This just invites more frivolous litigation, and ultimately more tax dollars spent and less respect accorded to Council’s resolutions.

We often pay opponents’ legal fees. This is wrong.

We also need to reassess how we enter into contracts and their content. I have not been impressed:

• Contract content should be based on the best interest of the Village residents and the environment.

• At this point that has rarely happened.

We must do better. Remember, elections have consequences.

Tom Raffanello

An EDU is an “Equivalent Dwelling Unit” assigning wastewater system usage based on the water consumption.

In recent newsletters we have already questioned: Is Sun Communities paying their fair share of wastewater costs? Is the tiny 1947 trailer park near the Islamorada Post Office paying too much? What about the three breweries in the Village paying a minimal amount? Why does Village policy provide a volume discount for wastewater costs to the larger developments, resorts, marinas, restaurants with more than 10 EDUs? This week’s concern: On Oct 30, the Village agreed to the consent order from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to address MM92 issues and the raw sewage leaks. There was no public discussion and vote by Village Council before agreeing to a fix estimated to cost $4.5 million. The twenty-day time limit for response to FDEP seemed to allow time for a special call public meeting… not just phone calls to council members for approval.   The Islamorada wastewater department is required to be self-supporting. When is the last time the Village established updated EDU counts and reviewed the billing policies?  Now there is an urgent need with an FDEP mandate for costly fix.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel Perez, both Republicans, are at odds over proposals to slash or eliminate property taxes as the 2026 legislative session approaches.

Here's the list of eight proposed resolutions to date, which must be approved by three-fifths of the Legislature before appearing on the ballot:

• HJR 201 — Eliminates non-school homestead property taxes.

• HJR 203 — Phases out non-school homestead property taxes over a decade.

• HJR 205 — Exempts residents 65 and older from paying non-school homestead property taxes.

• HJR 207 — Creates a non-school property tax homestead exemption equal to 25% of the assessed value of the house.

• HJR 209 — Creates a $100,000 non-school homestead tax exemption for residences with property insurance.

• HJR 211 — Eliminates the cap on portability, which lets homeowners transfer tax savings from their previous place to a new one. This means a homeowner can transfer their Save Our Homes tax cap benefit to a new home.

• HJR 213 — Limits how much the assessed non-school property tax can grow for a home, from 3% every three years instead of 3% annually for homestead property, and 15% over three years for non-homestead property instead of 10% per year.

• HB 215, which would make various changes including requiring a supermajority vote from a local government to pass a property tax increase and allowing newly married couples to combine their Save our Homes tax cap benefit.

  
  

According to Perez, "It is our position that the House does not need to limit itself in presenting one single plan, but instead allow the people of Florida the ability to choose some, all, or none of the proposals on the 2026 ballot,"

Governor DeSantis disagrees and believes a single issue should be on the ballot in November 2026 to simplify the process for voters.  DeSantis has called for the homestead property tax to be eliminated.

There is a Legislative Delegation meeting November 13 for local governments and taxpayers to tell their Tallahassee representatives about wishes for the 2026 legislative session.  Property tax is likely a controversy to be addressed.

Nov 13: 10 AM Monroe County Legislative Delegation Meeting; password:500812

DOGE, may hold the answer as to how  property taxes can be reduced. CFO Blaise Ingoglia and his team are focused on three priorities to boost affordability for Floridians and business owners: government waste, property taxes and insurance.

He’s constantly looking for ways to balance Florida’s business-friendly environment with making the state an affordable place for families.

“Traditionally, the places that have the highest cost of living are the places that have the most coastline and the most sunshine. It is very, very difficult to make ends meet there.” Ingoglia said.

“The fact of the matter is, many people from more expensive states are moving here to the state of Florida to experience the American dream. We are almost a victim of our own success because we are  attracting people from all the other states now.”

Ingoglia criticized local governments for expanding their reach at taxpayers’ expense.

“Your local governments are not being good partners with you guys. They’re not being good partners for your family, they’re not being good partners with your business, because they are taking your property tax dollars and they are expanding the scope and the size of the government,” he said.

Ingoglia said his focus remains squarely on keeping Florida affordable.

A program at the Islamorada History and Discovery Center next week may be a chance to learn what our tax dollars do to keep the mosquito population in check… 2025 has been a bad mosquito year.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dubbed mosquitoes the "world's deadliest animal" due to the diseases they spread, causing over 700,000 deaths globally each year.

In Broward County, they are now using drones to control mosquito populations, enhancing precision and effectiveness in combating mosquitoes.  Will drones be a feasible way to reduce the use of mosquito spraying helicopters here?

November 12th - Social Hour 5pm, Lecture 6pm