August 23 – It’s Primary Election Day and a Democratic candidate for governor of Florida will be decided. Locally, the Mayor of Key West will be decided as well as a commissioner seat. School board candidates and a county judge will also be determined.
Key West City Commissioner Billy Wardlow joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM to talk about what’s happening in the city.
Wardlow said, “There’s really no excuse not to vote anymore because they give you the early voting, you’ve got the absentees and we have the polling places. If you’re going to vote, there’s no excuses not to, so get out there and vote. You can’t complain if you don’t vote.”
In terms of city business, the commissioners took a look at remodeling the park in front of Custom House known as Clinton Square with work starting at the end of 2022.
Wardlow said, “It’s going to clean the area up. It’s going to make a very nice park, a very historic park. They still have a lot of work to do. They’re going to preserve the little fence that’s there. That was the original fence that was put up around there, that little wrought iron fence, and clean up the monument, put some benches in. Replace some of the trees that are there, put other trees in there so you’ll have some shade. I think that’ll turn out beautiful.”
A settlement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been reached for some sewage treatment plant updates and improvements and the fine will be paid.
Wardlow said, “That’s one of the most important things we have up in Key West and I guess all over the United States is the environment. It’s very important to me and to the citizens and to the commission that we keep up to date with the environment and any repairs and things we have to do to the sewage treatment plant, that’s a number one priority. The water quality around Key West to get it tested and make sure it’s all up to par so we still have that beautiful green and blue water that we have down there and stay like that for the next generations.”
The fire department and police officer pension is a discussion topic that will be dealt with in the future.
Wardlow said, “It’s kind of costly. The problem is when you retire from the fire department or the police department, you retire with what you get. I retired in ’76 and we don’t have any COLA or anything, so my retirement from then is below minimum wage, probably, and I’m still receiving the same amount that I received then. We don’t get any insurance. I can’t vote on it. I’ve got to recuse myself because it affects me directly. I think the unions and the pension board will go back to management and rework it and maybe bring something down. The $2,000 a year is only if the pension makes above 9%. Then each police and firefighter would get a $2,000 check. I think it’s bad timing where we’ve been working on the budget and it’s coming up now here in September instead of being brought up back in March or April, so it could have been figured in with the budget. Of course I think it’s a good idea, but we just have to wait and see what happens and everybody’s got to sit down and talk and sharpen their pencils and see if they can come to a conclusion and if not, then maybe bring it back up next year before the budget season starts.”
The total would be more than $1 million a year. Proponents predict it will attract qualified police officers and firefighters.
Wardlow said, “You’ve got to love the job. It’s just like being on the commission with our raise. I don’t agree with it. It would be nice to have, but I know what I was getting when I got in there and I’m not doing it for the money. I do it for the love of the community. Our salary is great. We get $20,000 a year, plus insurance. I think that’s sufficient enough for being on the commission.”
Another topic that was tabled at the last city commission meeting was increasing the annual licensing fee for vacation rental properties from $22 to $300.
Local real estate agents expressed concerns about how it would affect the ability of the future property owners to rent their properties.
Wardlow said, “That’s going to be opened up to a workshop. The realtors also are saying it was kind of a surprise to them when they read it and they weren’t fully informed of all the information in it. It’s more for the six month rental that it would be a minimum that you could rent for six months instead of the 28 days. It would have to be put into place. It’s good, I mean, what it is people I’m getting most emails from it seems like they bought houses in Key West and they live there part time and then the other part of the year, they rent it out. I don’t see where raising it to $300 is going to harm anybody. The city needs it, but you know nobody wants it in their backyard. I don’t want Airbnbs in my neighborhood. I’m sure nobody else does, but I guess it’s a necessity. We don’t need as many as we have, that’s for sure, in my opinion.”
Public comment will be available on September 7.
One of the main concerns comes from a statement in the ordinance that says properties that had a valid, non-transient rental license on May 5, 2022 will be eligible for a permit. So will properties sold in the future be eligible as short-term rentals?
On the other hand, doesn’t Key West need more long-term housing for workers?
Wardlow said, “They’re going to sit down with the attorneys on both sides and all the stakeholders involved in it, see if they can work something out.”