Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
City officials are headed to Washington.
Henriquez said they will “meet with our federal lobbyists, which we haven’t done with the city in quite some time. And so we’re looking forward to doing exactly what we did at Florida Keys Day. We’re going to do that at the federal level and meet with the Congressmen and women and talk to them about fire station three, and our FEMA, and just a lot of the little projects that we have, and see if we can bring any money back at the federal level like we did at the state level. Congressman Carlos Gimenez is definitely one that we’re going to be speaking with, and when he came down here quite some time ago, we met with him, and he seemed like he was very interested, and really wanted to help us with fire station three and getting some funding. So we’re really looking forward to be able to sit down one on one with him and tell him what our needs are.”
In Tallahassee, the House did approve a version of the property tax bill that could move forward and go on to the voters. It has yet to be heard by the Senate or the governor, but it includes the possible full elimination of homestead taxes other than emergency services.
Henriquez said, “That’s what happens in Tallahassee. You really never know until they actually go to vote. So the Florida House of Representatives did approve the amended version, which eliminates those taxes immediately as soon as January 1, 2027, so the original version of the HJR203 proposed was a 10 year phase out of non school property taxes on homesteaded primary residents. So that would have given everyone time to adjust responsibility and it would also not allow local governments from trimming budgets for law enforcement, firefighters and other first responders, even though those services are largely funded by revenue from the property taxes. So even though it passed through the House, it will still require a three fifths majority in the Senate to make it onto the November ballot. So we’ll see. Like I said, there was a bill out there for a 10 year phase out, and then there was an amendment, and that version eliminates those taxes immediately. So we’ll see what it does on the Senate side, and if it passes, then it will be on the November ballot. We’re looking at that very closely. We’ll see what happens on the Senate side. And then, it’s up to the voters. I know Representative Mooney said it’ll be up to the voters to decide, and it has to be a 60% majority vote. So we’ll see what the whole state of Florida would like to see. So we’re watching that very closely.”
The city of Key West released its annual report for the city recently.
Henriquez said, “Please go to our city’s website, and you’ll find it on the city manager’s link. And you can go online and you can look at the report. It’s about 42 pages long, but it’s got a lot of great information in there. So please go out and go to our website and look at the Annual Report, and then on Tuesday, tomorrow, the HARC board is meeting. That meeting starts at five, and there is a discussion item on the agenda in reference to the text amendments for the fence colors. So depending on what happens there, but if it’s the will of the board to do a text amendment, it will then go to the planning board. If it does pass the planning board, it could either pass or it could die right there. If it dies right there, the planning board says no, then it doesn’t go any further. But if it does pass the planning board, then it will go to the Commission for two readings, and then if it passes the commission, then it will go to the DOC. They have up to 60 days to approve or reject. If they approve it, then we move forward. If they reject, then it dies there as well. So I’m looking at if it goes through all of the processes and it passes each one, it could be a minimum of six months before we know whether it’s approved or rejected.”
Friday clean ups have been amazing.
Henriquez said, “The amount of volunteers that have been coming out have just been phenomenal. Two Fridays ago, we broke records. We had 135 volunteers. Last Friday, we had 128 volunteers. It’s just been wonderful to see all the volunteers come out and clean our city and make it better. So yes, the early bird cleanup starts at 8am and it’s hosted by the Southernmost Beach Resort, which is at 506 South Street, we will meet in the parking lot between Simonton and Duval. We look forward to everyone coming out and helping us clean our city.”
For more information, click here: https://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/