John Bartus, city administrator for Key Colony Beach, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
City Hall is really starting to shape up.
Bartus said, “It’s a big big progress being made on City Hall right now. A lot of the concrete blocks have gone up. You can see the general shape, floors have been poured. So, these are huge accomplishments. We’re making great progress over there, and looking forward to a date, not too many months in the future, when we will abandon our trailer offices and have wonderful offices in a brand new building.”
The July 4 celebrations were amazing.
Bartus said, “I’ve got to just sort of say a few key words of thanks to some people that really make that a big deal. City of Marathon, of course, providing the venue and the ones that help basically, make sure that the fireworks come off the way they do. Randy Mearns, he was on that original city council with me way back when, in the old days. He’s a former fire chief, but he’s the chief pyrotechnician, and he’s the one that makes sure that we have the best small town fireworks in America, Marathon, and he’s the reason for that, and he and his band of pyros, they come out every year, and they overachieve every year.”
The beautification committee will meet tomorrow for Key Colony Beach.
Bartus said, “We have a recreation committee meeting coming up tomorrow, I believe, and the beautification committee meets. And then we have a full-blown city commission meeting on the 16th. We’ve got some stuff going on. It’s summertime, it’s sort of a quiet time in Key Colony Beach, but we still have things going on, and by the time our winter residents come back, we’ll have a brand new city hall. One history-making thing just sort of happened in Key Colony, and that is the first female law enforcement officer to lead an agency in Florida Keys’ history. After our chief, Kris DiGiovanni retired, we promoted Sergeant Jamie Buxton to chief position. She’s the first female police chief in all of Monroe County history, I believe. It’s very cool. She came up with the sheriff’s office to Key Colony Beach and became an officer there. She moved up to sergeant, and when Kris retired, it was no brainer to move her. It’s nothing to do with the fact that she was a woman, she deserves the position, she earned it by merit, and she is an absolutely wonderful officer and police chief, and we’re very proud of her, for her achievement there, and also being able to have Key Colony Beach be the first law enforcement agency to be led by a female.”
The property tax referendum is still on a lot of people’s minds.
Bartus said, “Florida statute forbids cities and counties from spending money to either support or oppose a referendum like that. I do have my own personal feelings about that, and even worse than the property tax part of it is the restrictions on what you can spend money on, and I think counties and cities won’t be able to spend money on things like libraries or parks and recreation out of your ad valorem taxes anymore, and that’s something that I believe will have detrimental impact on day to day life for people in Florida. Homestead exemption is great, but what about people who rent their properties to affordable workforce housing? They’re not getting any break, and in fact, their taxes are going to go up as a result of losing property taxes. It’s a minority of houses that are homesteaded in Key Colony Beach, so as far as the Keys go, that’s the actual homestead exemption property tax reduction is not going to be that big a deal, but on other parts of the state, there are counties when we have 60, 70, 80% or more of your homes homesteaded, that’s going to be a very significant issue if this goes through. I think people should look at it and make the decision that’s best for them.”