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.
The Florida League of Cities met last week.
Henriquez said, “A lot has changed since the first time that I participated in the meeting. There’s three meetings. That day, on Thursday, the Speaker of the House had outlined eight bills that have been filed. They range from eliminating taxes for all homestead properties to lowering the cap on growth in assessed values. So there’s eight of them. The Senate is reviewing those proposals that were put forward by the House. Although the proposals vary, they all exempt the portion of the property taxes that goes from K12 school funding, and they also ban local governments from cutting law enforcement spending, so that state law already bars cities and counties from cutting police funding without state approval. Any proposal that will appear on next year’s ballot, it would need to get 60% of the vote in each chamber, the Senate and the House of the legislature, and for it to become law, 60% of the voters would need to approve it also on the statewide ballot, which would be November of 2026. I’m very worried about the impact that eliminating property taxes, as you know, that’s what I used to do, or even significantly reducing them to have a local government and funding huge impact for our public services. It would be a negative impact on commercial properties, because it’s it only pertains to homesteaded properties, and it would also shift the burden to sales tax, which would be the second homes, vacation rentals and commercial properties. Where they have the real, real small cities, if property taxes go away, so will the small cities and counties, because they will not be able to to sustain and pay for their services, and they will probably get combined with other counties. So it’s not a one size fits all, and I think that’s what the message is to the legislation. Property taxes are the primary stable revenue source of funding essential municipal services such as the police, the fire, emergency response, infrastructure, our roads, parks and recs, libraries and even the bonds that just got voted on, that would have an effect. That’s just to name a few of the services that could be eliminated. This could also open the door to property fraud, because if it’s just eliminating the homesteaded properties, some people will claim homestead in order to avoid paying taxes. So we don’t have an impact on this right now, because I’m going to bring all of this information to the finance department, and I want to start working numbers on how each of these House bills would impact the city. So this would be an ongoing conversation.”
Are the legislators listening about the property tax issue?
Henriquez said, “This is really coming from the top, which is from the Governor Ron DeSantis, because, as everyone knows and may or may not know, but he has made numerous announcements that he’s trying to slash property taxes. So it all depends on what goes before him, because he could veto everything and just have his own but he is very adamant about removing property taxes. So this is really coming from Governor Ron DeSantis.”
The legislative session begins in January.
Henriquez said, “It’s starting early. So everyone, we really need to pay attention to this year, and also the same legislature that has been trying to remove local business tax, they’ve also filed House Bill 103, and Senate Bill 122, and the legislators continued efforts to eliminate local business taxes, and it is an essential tax that we preserve the municipal authority to collect these taxes, and these revenues are critical for economic growth, public safety and community development. So this will be the third time that they’re trying to eliminate local business taxes, and it’s always been known, it takes three years, three times to actually get something done. So we’re going to be looking at that bill very closely as well. There’s a lot of note taking here, and there’s a lot of information.”
Goombay Festival was held over the weekend and the crowning of the King and Queen of Fantasy Fest also happened.
Henriquez said, “Our town is very, very busy, and lots and lots of activities. Goombay kind of kicks off fantasy fest. So there’s all kinds of activities going on each day. Go on to the website for Fantasy Fest 2025, and you can get a full calendar of all of the events going on. So here at the city on Tuesday, we have a tree commission meeting starting at 5pm in the commission chambers. And just so everybody knows, there will be a rolling street closure. The Tutu pre party parade starts at 6pm and it begins at Mary Ellen’s 420 Appelrouth Lane. So just be aware of that. On Wednesday is the pet masquerade. That will be at the Coffee Butler amphitheater starting at five. And then Thursday is the Development Review Committee and that will be in the commission chambers as well. And then that evening is the Key West headdress ball, and that will be at the Coffee Butler amphitheater, starting 6:30. Then we have plogging of the Keys that will be at the fire station two, starting at 8am. Then, of course, we have Fantasy Fest Saturday, that starts at 7pm, children’s day on Sunday, and that will be at Bayview Park, starting at noon. So there are a lot of activities.”