Sam Kaufman, Key West Commissioner, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
The city commission met yesterday.
Kaufman said, “The votes yesterday were consequential. And I think the major takeaway is that the current administration and management and leadership, unfortunately, is following down a path of a very extreme tax increase which is going to have big negative impacts for our working people and our working families, and that’s what I’m most concerned about. Right now, the residents of Key West have full access to Higgs Beach, and Higgs Beach is paid for by all the taxpayers throughout the county. So to break it down, very simply, whatever costs are needed to pay for the beach, if the city owns it, will only be paid for by us as city taxpayers. Now we already pay Monroe County tax as city taxpayers. That’s true, but the cost is paid for and spread out through the entire county for Higgs Beach, so our cost share will increase as city taxpayers. That’s pretty much a very big part of the calculation, I think about why we should oppose it. For example, if there is a hurricane and there is major damage to that beach, we as the city taxpayers will have the burden to replace it. We know that FEMA is reducing or eliminating most cost reimbursements now from hurricanes, we can’t count on the federal government. Again, If there was no real explanation about the replacement of the sea wall, that’s going to be millions of dollars. So I just think that if residents like the beach the way they have it, certainly there could be improvements made, but that should be done through advocacy in the city with the county, but the cost should not lie with us entirely for all these things at the beach. And by the way, it’s pretty much guaranteed, from my view, if this is going to happen, the only way the city can pay for it is to require parking fees there. And I think most people are just tired of more parking fees, more taxes, more cost. We already have enough of that, and so I haven’t heard a single person, by the way, say they think this is a good idea.”
The City Commission did vote by majority to move forward with the acquisition or the takeover of Higgs beach yesterday.
Kaufman said, “The other side is saying, well, the geography is that the beach is located within the jurisdiction of the city of Key West and the county does not control any beaches within the jurisdictional geography of any city in the county. Okay, that’s fine, but the bottom line is, really, with these things from the government perspective, is who’s going to pay for what is needed there? And this is definitely a tax burden shifting from the full county residents, to the city residents. The other argument, which it doesn’t really work, but the other argument is, we can develop the beach. We can put more activities there and increase revenue. Well, the problem is, the devil’s in the details, of course, especially something this big, because there’s the maintenance of the fort, the pier, the sea wall, the dog parks, and, by the way, the African cemetery has no and we really should be doing something to recognize all the burials there. I don’t know why the county hasn’t done that properly, but we all know and great work by Dr Corey Malcom to identify and work with the federal government to identify where all those graves are, under the dog park and by the road from those original refugees that were rescued by the US Navy Back in 1860 from Cuba, and they were brought back into that area of Higgs Beach. There’s a federal grant that restricts any greater intensity of use at the beach. So the argument that we can do more development there, that we could have another restaurant there, that we could have much more revenue, the county found they couldn’t even move the road because they were running afoul of that federal grant. So there’s a lot of red flags with this property as well. It’s a bad deal. Look, it doesn’t make sense. I get to use the park. I don’t have to pay for parking. The future looks to me like we’re going to get less of a park, we’re going to have to pay for parking. We’re going to get the same park, but we’re going to have to pay for it and we’re exposed to having to have our taxes increased. So I really don’t understand why we’re even pursuing this. And again, I’ve had a lot of feedback from residents, and not a single person says to me that this is a good idea, and right now with what’s going on with our taxes, wait until you see the millage rate that is going to be announced in July. People are going to be shocked, and this is not the year to be doing that. I’m opposed to any tax increase. And this is part of the equation for me, because I see that our poor finance director is going to have to figure out how to do all this with the least amount of revenue and without raising taxes, and she’s not going to be able to do that. Why does it have to be now? Why not get through at least this year? Let’s see what the state legislature does. There’s going to be a special session in Tallahassee of the state legislature in April, and they’re going to consider how to move forward with eliminating property taxes. Most lobbyists that we hear from are talking about eliminating homestead property taxes, which then shifts the burden. Again this is all about shifting the burden of taxes. It’s going to shift the burden more to non homestead property owners and businesses, and that is really critically bad for working families. We have so many people that are living paycheck to paycheck right now, and then we’re going to see increases to their rents, increases to their costs, and we have to be sensitive to that.”
Is swapping land for Higgs Beach with the county, possibly around the airport, still on the table?
Kaufman said, “I think it was 2022, the county approached the city in light of their redevelopment expansion of the airport, they needed a parcel of the Hawk missile site, which is next to little Hamaca Park. And so there is an agreement between the city and the county in which the city already conveyed a part of the Hawk missile site that they needed for that expansion. In exchange, the city receives a multi use recreational field, soccer field at Higgs Beach, the county is obligated to develop and produce that. The original date was May of 2027. I think that was pushed back a year or two that they have to provide that for use, because our youth leagues are really in need of more space for lacrosse, for soccer, cheerleading, other activities and football, so that is in place. And by the way there’s there is a provision. The county has a provision where, if they don’t produce that, that soccer field, that new recreational field, they must pay the city $2 million in liquidated damages. That was the deal. Now, there was a very short discussion about possibly swapping Higgs Beach, but the City Commission at that time, that was a different City Commission, but the City Commission at that time was advised about all the red flags with the salute lease, with the federal grant, with the FAA, and that really died quickly. There was really no pursuit on the city side of a land swap, because they realized, again, we have full access. And there really wasn’t a need for that. The need was for the recreational field.”
What happened with the city and DEI regulation?
Kaufman said, “I know everyone has a different perspective, and I respect that, but I think that the takeaway by some people is that that was the actual vote. But the actual vote was against sending this resolution, which would have expressed concerns, asked for clarification, asked for some consideration by the state legislature for some of the programming that we do here in Key West for for example, I would say most, most all residents, at least a good number, enjoy Goombay. Now goombay, as we all know. I mean, one of my first memories of Key West, 30 years ago, moving here as a young man in my 20s. I remember getting off work on that Friday afternoon, and I never heard of Goombay before, and all my friends were saying, hey, we’ve got to go to Petronia Street, and we’ve got to go to Goombay and I was like, wow. It’s such a Key West thing, but at the heart of it, it’s a Caribbean, Afro Caribbean festival. And this legislation will prohibit any funding for advertising, or funding in any way for something like Goombay, which is something that is such a tradition, so important in our Bahama Village community, for example. I think there’s a lot of concern about that. The same thing can be said about Pride, about Women’s Fest. We have another event in two weeks, Latin Fest, we have Women’s History Month. It was ironic that at the same meeting we had a program where we honored Women’s History Month and the day before, we honored womenkind, both things would come under the category of prohibitions with this legislation. I think it’s overly broad. It may be subject to constitutional challenge, but at the end of the day, it’s really impacting our ability to express ourselves as one human family, and that’s the message.”
The ultimate vote will be from the state.
Kaufman said, “Our Tourist Development Council will have to shift in how they fund programs and festivals and events. And it’d be interesting to know, I think, what the real impact would be. The legislation looks like it has passed the Senate, it looks like it has been postponed in the state House, so assuming it passes, what will be the actual real impact? And I think we would only really know that by hearing from the folks at the TDC, and there’s really strong leadership there. I think the main question is, how does this potentially negatively impact our economy? Because we have tourists that are drawn to Key West, most of us know a lot of these festivals, a lot of these events primarily should target people to come and draw them as tourists to Key West.”
Most of the work done by the city commission is not controversial.
Kaufman said, “90 to 95% of the business that takes place in the city is non controversial. Most things are passed by consent, meaning there’s not even an individual vote taken, because there’s unanimous support for the items that come before the City Commission. It’s because of those 5% or 10% of the items that are controversial, that’s why people think there’s all these great divisions in the city, and that’s happened throughout my entire career in the city, which has been more than a decade, but many things are non controversial.”
The fire station three bond issue was also discussed.
Kaufman said, “The City Commission voted. I was the one vote against this item. This item, $32 million of bond was approved to replace the fire station on Kennedy Drive. Now $32 million is what I really have issue with. I do not have an issue with the fire station being rebuilt. It absolutely needs to be rebuilt. We need it. We’ve needed a new fire station for many years, and I am very serious in terms of my overview of the budget every year. This has been in the budget for more than 10 years, and it has been languishing. It needs to be done as soon as possible. The question is, we have other similarly sized cities with similarly sized fire stations that cost half or less than half of this price tag. My question is, why $32 million? Which in and of itself represents a 10% tax increase for everyone in the city, and it will be more than 10% because if there’s an elimination of Homestead Property Tax, on top of all the other bonds that management is proposing, and on top of all the other stresses, if homestead property tax collection is eliminated, we’re looking at, I’m not trying to be alarmist, but you’re looking at a 30 40% tax increase this year. That’s just unacceptable and ridiculous. So the question is, for the fire station, if we could save $10 million or $20 million why not look at that? Look at a smaller size. See what we can really afford. And that’s really what my concern is. And by the way, there were no drawings, no architectural renderings, no conceptual drawings at all. And so what are we getting for $32 million and I think that as a City Commission, we need to be diligent and protect the taxpayers, especially this year, and that goes along with the fire assessment, a new tax that they’re creating, new bonds that are going to be coming forward next month, according to the city manager and Higgs Beach and so on and so forth. When we get closer to the tentative millage rate, the tax rate being set, I think that will be the biggest topic come June and July and heading into the election.”