At budget time, the most significant part of the annual costs to taxpayers is personnel costs at a projected cost near $14 million for the coming year.

The Council must consider an appropriate level of salary plus benefits in order to retain a quality staff while working to keep the taxes low for property owners struggling to pay for the high cost of living. A majority of employees cannot afford to live in Islamorada. Many come from the mainland because of the extremely high cost of living in the Keys. This week, the Council will consider a budget that includes 113 Village employees at a cost of almost $14 million… an average cost of almost $124,000 per employee. That is the average cost of an employee - not the amount on the paycheck the employee takes home to cover food, housing, vehicle, etc.  A significant taxpayer cost for Islamorada employees is their medical insurance for both employees and their family and retirement funding with the Florida Retirement Services (FRS).   All employees pay 3% of their salary into FRS. Taxpayers contribute 13.59% of salaries for most employees to FRS.  Firefighters (we have 43 firefighters) get 37.74%. The Village Manager gets 32.60%. Cost of benefits can be significant. For a $200,000 salary for Village Manager - add $65,200 for retirement funding, $48,000 for housing allowance.  And an extensive insurance plan too.   Click here to see the FRS rates paid by Village taxpayers for employees in 2026-2027.

Islamorada Post Office to Close: word spread quickly through town that the Islamorada Post Office at MM82.8 will be closing. The 4080 sq ft building on nearly 2/3 of an acre is owned by a trust with a Miami Beach address.

The United States Postal Service is having financial issues all over the country.

Losses over the past 10 years have weakened the Postal Service’s financial position, resulting in a significant gap between assets and liabilities. At the end of FY 2025, the Postal Service recorded total assets of $41.7 billion and total liabilities of $83.3 billion.

Facebook msg from CROOKED PALM CABANA:  “After 2½ incredible years, we have made the difficult decision to close the doors of Crooked Palm Cabana. Our final day of operation will be Oct 4th.”

Back in Dec 2022, the Village Council voted 3-2 to approve a controversial major conditional use to redevelop a prior bank property at MM90, as a brewpub-restaurant-distillery with outdoor seating.  Seven existing affordable housing units could continue on the second floor.  The Council approved the project with 19 conditions, including parking, landscaping, and buffer reductions, limited hours of operation, and occupancy limits… after months of meetings and negotiations. In Dec 2025, six of the conditions were eliminated as the business had been deemed a good neighbor.

Historical Preservation Society of the Upper Keys: On Monday, Sept. 14 at 7:00 p.m. at the Coral Isles Church mm 90 on Plantation Key.  The presentation: "HURRICANE DONNA REVISITED" the 1960 storm.

Did you take the Survey? Florida Keys Electric Cooperative (FKEC) is researching a new rate  concept. Instead of using a flat rate for the amount of electricity used, the cooperative is investigating ways to align billing with time-of-use (TOU) rates.

Time-of-Use rates are a utility billing concept that charges different prices for electricity depending on the time of day you use it, with lower rates during off-peak hours.

If you have an account with FKEC: Take the Survey.

Do you know what Plogging is?  It’s walking, jogging, or running on the street or at a park, beach, or trail—while picking up trash.  Plogging can be done alone or in groups. We all need to plog! An estimated two million people in the world plog daily! Plogging the Keys, is a local volunteer group in Key West.

September 7, 1963, the Pro Football Hall of Fame opened in Canton, Ohio. There have been 387 stars inducted over the last 63 years.  Of those, 10 were drafted from the University of Miami and 10 from Pitt.  Only Notre Dame and Southern Cal, with 12 each, have had more NFL Hall of Famers.

(Tom is also a parent and an Islamorada resident and taxpayer.)

On November 3, voters in Florida will decide whether to amend the Florida Constitution with Amendment 3, changing the Florida Homestead exemption law.

There are four issues in Amendment 3:

1. Amendment #3 would increase homestead exemptions to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028.

2. New homeowners would get the currently existing exemption. The amendment would create a five-year waiting period for new owners for the full increased homestead exemption, to encourage long term residency.

3. The amendment would limit the increase in assessed value of non-homesteaded properties to a maximum of 5%per year.  Currently it can be increased up to 10%.

4. The amendment would only allow the use of property tax revenue for specific “core services”.

 

Local governments statewide already have been diligently analyzing potential impacts on their budgets. (apparently not Islamorada).

Original estimates from the state predicted Monroe County revenue would decrease about $9 million in FY27 and $17.5 million in FY28.

On Aug. 19, Monroe County Property Appraiser, Scott Russell, provided property value projections to the County Commissioners that were based on his own analysis. 

The Good news: The Property Appraiser’s projections show that overall taxable value would continue to increase, for Monroe County and all local municipalities. 

But not the huge increases in taxable value local governments have seen in recent years. 

There is no doubt the intent of the legislature was to encourage the reduction of local expenses.

But elected officials could either reduce expenses or increase taxes on remaining taxpayers.

Supporters of Amendment 3 argue that Florida homeowners need relief from rapidly rising housing costs and insurance premiums.

Opponents of Amendment 3 worry that impacting the amount of increases in future property tax revenue could lead to service reductions, higher fees, or alternative taxes in the future.

The constitutional amendment was initiated by Governor DeSantis who said: “Property tax revenue collected by local governments has nearly doubled in the past seven years …. Florida homeowners need relief.”

Sad news regarding Islamorada, property taxes:

2019: $10,264,200

2026: $18,264,500 +78% in7 years

2027: $20,632,800, +101% in 8 years (at 2.8 mills as per TRIM notice.)

Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia (former DOGE director): “The only people who are complaining about it (homestead property tax amendment) are the people who actually have to cut back.  We are on the side of the taxpayers here, right? We’re not on the side of a government who thinks that you are an endless ATM.”

Hear that, Islamorada Council and government?

A Challenging New Budget Process required next year:

There is another bill the legislature passed this year that has not been widely discussed.

HB 1329, signed into law in June 2026, now requires every county and municipality to present a scenariothat shows the impact ofa10% budget reduction before adopting their annual budget, starting next year.  (This is standard practice for federal law enforcement entities.)

On several occasions I had to prepare a 15-20% budget cut proposal as a Federal administrator.

This state law isn’t a suggestion—it’s a precondition for budget adoption.

It requires that the public be advised by our officials as to services that might be delayed or reduced.

AUDIT NEEDED?

Seems clear to us – we need a thorough effectiveness audit in Islamorada.

In my experience the bulk of savings comes from discontinuing and/or combining programs that have been successful or overcome by events. That would include cutting personnel by combining duties and contracting some in house services.

The ICA has been calling for this DOGE-like audit for several years.

We have received no support from several councils and village managers but much support from the residents.

We had predicted this because it made sense. We have NEVER had an effectiveness audit in our history (29 years).

All audits conducted by the village over the last quarter century have been to check for basic arithmetic.

We need a municipal optimization audit that goes beyond standard financial auditing by combining compliance checks with performance, efficiency, and cost-saving improvements.

It must be designed to ensure accountability while also identifying opportunities to improve operations, reduce waste, and enhance service delivery.

Effectiveness Audit

We need this audit NOW in order to be ready to show the possibility of a 10% reduction in expenditures by next September.

It is not an option, Council and Village Manager.

I am told that a council budget “reduction” measure is forgoing a “potential” council salary raise of $20k total per year but not giving voters the opportunity to increase council pay via a charter amendment.

That is laughable… cutting a raise never received?

When the time comes, share potential cuts with the residents. We desperately need some tax relief.

Local governments have been forewarned by the State of Florida:  Stop all the excessive tax increases!

Elections have consequences.

Tom