Monroe County Commissioner Craig Cates joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
Budget season is getting underway.
Cates said, “It’s very, very important, obviously, and our citizens are always concerned about the increases of their taxes and me being a representative of the citizens, I’m very concerned, too, on a personal level of representing them. Last year, we had more of an increase. With the inflation and a couple of previous years from that, and cost of living in the keys, we had to increase it a bit. Hopefully this year, we don’t increase it any. That’s what I’m striving for and we can hold the line and get through cuts where we need to and prioritize different projects and move forward with some of the capital projects that we have been waiting for.”
What about any advice to the new mayor of Key West, Dee Dee Henriquez?
Cates said, “My advice is to listen to the citizens. They’re the reason you’re there, they’re who you’re supposed to represent and I’m sure she will do a great job. I look forward to working with her, I know the family very well. I look forward to a great relationship between the county and the city because it’s very important that we work together to prioritize all the issues and help one another as much as we can. She did a great job as a tax collector and she understands government. She understands the struggles that the citizens have, obviously with her collecting the taxes. So I’m sure it’ll be a seamless transition and with all the support she has in the community, obviously with no opposition that shows the support and the future that everybody is looking forward to.”
What does Cates feel about Governor Ron DeSantis’s budget?
He said, “I think the Governor did a great job, I think the House and the Senate did a great job. The governor wanted to cut what he thought was unnecessary expenses out of the budget. I’m disappointed the impact it made in the Keys because of our cost of living down here and the organizations that he did end up cutting, are very important not only to the citizens, but the quality of life for the residents and our visitors. I’m disappointed in that, but hopefully we’ll be able to help those organizations continue with different sources of funding, do what I can, so they continue and then next year, hopefully we make up for that.”
An extra day of lobster season was another surprise from the governor.
Cates said, “I think that was a big surprise. I’m not sure of the ones who made that decision, understand the impact that it’s going to have on the Keys, not as much as on the residents, but on law enforcement, the Coast Guard, the public safety, the sheriff’s department, and the FWC. They’re scrambling, but they’re professionals, they can get it done, but nobody was really expecting it. I think it was made with the best of intentions. But we’ll see how after it’s over whether it was a good thing or not.”
The ROGO decision is always looming.
Cates said, “That’s probably one of the most important decisions we will make. Although all of them are important. But that’s going to impact the Keys for years to come. Not only in safety, but the quality of life. So the more inputs, the emails we get, the phone calls. Text message me, my number is 305-587-0587 and give me your ideas, your opinion on the impact of our decision as we move forward with this very important issue.”
Transportation is also an issue in the Keys and it was announced the Conch Connect Rideshare service will launch soon thanks to Richard Clark, the county’s transportation director.
Cates said, “That’s a great idea that he has come up with. He’s done a great job of that. With him many times he has great ideas, but he also has the expertise to implement them, which a lot of times you have ideas but you never can get them on the ground. So he’s been able to do that. I look forward to seeing how this works and other out of the box ideas that he’s been thinking of working closely with a transportation for the city of Key West because Stock Island is the workforce housing for Key West and the Lower Keys. So it’s important that we were able to move them around into town with a traffic situation we have without making have more of an impact on traffic. So, yes, we’ve been thinking outside the box a little bit. But I think it’s a great idea and look forward to seeing how this works out.”
Affordable housing also continues to be a big issue.
Cates said, “The TDC funding that the legislature changed to allow us to use that 35 million of surplus revenue that the TDC has for workforce housing. I think it’s important, it’s going to be some important decisions that are made, how to use that money, but we know it’s going to benefit this and so if we spend it properly, we could have some of the biggest impacts on affordable housing that we’ve had in several years.”