Ron Saunders, village manager for the Village of Islamorada, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5 this morning to talk about what’s going on in the village.
There was a water line break yesterday in the village but it has been fixed.
Saunders said, “It affected the whole Keys with either water pressure or boil water, but the aqueduct authority got it under control. So that’s good news. They’re still working on it, but I think they’ve got it to back up to speed now, but these things happen. It’s actually the old pipe, and so somebody asked me, it’s a brand new pipeline up there. That area there on the old road hasn’t been replaced yet, apparently. So so the good news is, apparently they’ve got it under control, and then we’ll move on.”
Wastewater projects are also ongoing.
Saunders said, “Our next regular meeting is January 6, on a Tuesday, and we’re going to be giving an update on our wastewater situation. We’ve introduced an agreement with our engineers to come up with a plan of how to remedy the situation. We’ve had several breaks and spillages the last five or six years, and we’re trying to work with DEP and the Key Largo Wastewater District to address those concerns. We’re also doing a rate study to determine whether our rates are proper. They haven’t been changed for years, and the wastewater system has been operating in a deficit, and we need to correct that and make sure that we have adequate funds to maintain and operate the system. So wastewater continues to be a big concern, because we need to make sure that we don’t have any environmental impacts. Certainly, anytime you have a wastewater spill that’s a bad impact. So we’re working together with Key Largo, making progress there. The other issue that’s going is the baseball field. We are working with the Monroe County School District. They use our ball field at Founders Park is the Coral Shores High School baseball field. So we’re working with them to get a new agreement going. We’ve had one for about 20 years with them, and we’re negotiating with them, and we’re getting close to an agreement there. So I think we’re making progress on the baseball field and wastewater. Those are two ongoing issues that we want to stay on top of.”
What is the Charter Review committee?
Saunders said, “At our last regular meeting, there was discussion among the council to perhaps have a Charter Review Commission. The village of Islamorada is governed by a charter that’s over 20 years old, and we think it’s time to maybe take a look at updates. The updates would be done by a seven member Charter Review Commission proposed, the Council has agreed to this next meeting, where each of the five council members would get one appointment, and then two at large, we’ve already had several people express an interest, just based on that discussion and what they would do, would meet regularly in a public notice meeting. They would make recommendations to the council, and then the council, if they agree, would any proposed changes to our charter on the next election ballot in 2026. It’s an ongoing process. It hasn’t been done for a while. We thought it’d be a good time just to take a look and see about the terms of council members, whether all five should be up for election every two years, for example. That does create some problems, and just look at anything else the committee feels needs to be looked at. So it’s always good to take a look at your plans. In fact, we also have a strategic plan for the village that hasn’t been looked at for a while. We may take a look at that too. It’s always good to be updated and make sure that you’ve addressed any ongoing concerns. I’ve tried to involve more citizens. In our budget process. I appointed a five member Citizens Budget Review Committee that did a good job. We also had a baseball field committee with citizens on that. So I think the more input you get from the people you represent, the better.”
The garbage scheduled was revised a bit.
Saunders said, “You try to take into account people who have their families, they want to spend time over holidays with. But you also need to make sure that your garbage and other services are continued. So I think the waste management folks and disposal in Islamorada do a good job, as far as trying to arrange pickups and and we always appreciate that. Then we also try to make sure that we have ongoing services. For example, the park is still open, Founders Park, our public works, people are still working. So we had to make adjustments for that. We’re going to give them other days off when they have worked during the holidays. So we try to work with our employees to make sure they can enjoy their holiday, while also making sure services continue to be provided.”
Residents can stay in contact with the village through a newsletter.
Saunders said, “I think it’s important to communicate with your residents and also to be transparent about what’s going on, and that’s been a big part of what I’ve tried to bring on. I’ve been there now since April as the manager, and so we’ve been planning some changes. We’re still open to making more changes, but I think overall, people are pretty happy with the way things are going in Islamorada and we’ve resolved some ongoing issues and have a few more to work on, but we’re working with the legislature. For example, in the past, we’ve done pretty well in Tallahassee, but session starts in a couple of weeks in Tallahassee, so we’ve already been in touch with our state legislators, Jim Mooney and Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez. We also have our lobbyist team already working, because we want to make sure that Islamorada and the Keys get our fair share of state dollars, and we certainly have to work at it, because you’re competing with other cities and counties in the state. But we’ve done well in the past, and I think we’re going to have a Florida Keys Day in February. I’m planning on going to that with a couple of my council people. So we’re trying to stay in touch with our folks in Tallahassee and let them know our needs down here. We are a donor county. We send a lot more money to the state than we receive back, so we certainly want to make sure we get our fair share. We’re also very concerned, as FIRM is with the high cost of insurance premiums. We are a donor county there too. We send a lot more in premiums to Citizens than we get back in claims, and so we keep the pressure on the legislature to fix the windstorm insurance problem. There seems to be some progress, but not enough, because a lot of people are suffering between property taxes and windstorm insurance. Sometimes the cost of those two items is more than your mortgage, and that’s unsustainable, so we want to make sure we can get in control of costs. Obviously, property taxes are under the control of mostly local governments, and so we’ve tried to be fiscally conservative. The village, for example, did not raise our millage rate. We kept the same millage rate as the previous year. So we’ve tried to keep the pressure off our residents and property owners, and then I think the county tried to do the same, as well as other cities. I think we’re trying to keep a cap on property taxes, but the problem is, windstorm insurance, we have no control over. I’ve been a former opponent of big increases ever since I was in the legislature. I put a cap on Citizens when I served. That cap went away, and we need to erase those kind of caps, because Citizens property insurance is actually an instrument of the state of Florida. They’re owned by the state, and so there’s no reason why we should be paying such high insurance rates and sending money to Tallahassee that we don’t get, for the most part, back.”
Discussion of potentially removing property taxes is another ongoing issue.
Saunders said, “I certainly understand property taxes are a burden. When I was a legislature, I sponsored Save our Homes, which put a cap on the increase in value of your homesteaded property. And that’s, I think, saved a lot of people, people couldn’t have afforded to live in the Keys if their property taxes continue to increase. So I’m aware of the need to control property taxes, but on the other hand, you just can’t eliminate them, in my opinion, because property taxes are used to provide services locally, and so I think you have to find some compromise where you cap it in certain areas, and also maybe tie it to windstorm insurance relief, that kind of thing. But we’re watching it very closely, because there’s a lot of a lot of talk about eliminating or drastic reducing property taxes. But when you look at the impacts on local governments and keeping our roads safe and our law enforcement, our firefighters funded, there’s some implications there if you don’t watch out.”