Jim Scholl, mayor of Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
Restrictions for downstairs enclosures have been lifted a bit recently.
Scholl said, “That was part of our comp plan amendment, amendments that are going through Tallahassee for approval, and that will remove that restriction, and also the restriction that was in there for flood insurance, requiring inspections on the transfer of property and a home sale. So that really helps out the entire Florida Keys because the downstairs enclosures, it was recognized that the most of what we had was generally for storage and all that, and the habitable space has been removed. But storage is important down here for things like if you have a yard, yard work things, but if you have a boat or aquatic things, just having that opportunity to have the storage that’s protected is very important and it really didn’t affect our community rating system score for keeping our flood insurance rates as low as possible. So that was that was a very good agreement with big FEMA to allow us to remove those restrictions.”
There’s still some lack of clarity on the ROGO issue.
Scholl said, “We worked very hard last legislative session to get the legislature to agree to increase the hurricane evacuation timeline so they added 30 minutes from 24 to 24 and a half hours and what that did was allow a re-computation of the number of ROGOs or BPAS units, but basically building permits throughout the Keys that would be available to support, again, workforce housing, primarily. The language that went in the bill was we would get 900 units. They would have to be issued out over no less than 10 years, and they would be divided amongst the unincorporated Monroe County and the municipalities for additional building permits. So that was all in there, and they agreed with our initial input to say we wanted 70% of those to be for workforce housing and then 30% could be market rate, but they all had to be on individual lots. So individual dwelling units on lots, and it had to be owner occupied. So that language was, we thought very positive for what our biggest concerns are down here. But in that same bill, Senate Bill 180, there was language that said any changes to comprehensive plans or land development rules could not be more restrictive than what already existed, so now we had a contradiction there, and the Department of Commerce that has to review all of the comprehensive plan changes and land development regulation change says, well, now we’re not sure that we have the authority to approve this, because we have this language in the same bill. So that obviously is frustrating to us, because we work very hard with not only the legislature but the Department of Commerce during the process of creating this bill, and then it becomes restrictive and a complicating factor there is that many local governments and county governments have sued the state because of that burden on Home Rule ability to regulate land use in your local areas. So that has made everybody in Tallahassee more concerned about any decisions that could create legal challenges. So they’re already being challenged, and they’re worried about any additional legal challenges. So we’re sort of on hold right now as we work through, but at the meeting on Wednesday, we did provide some input to the County Administrator, Christine Hurley, and our growth management director, Emily Schemper, to have backup language available that would give us some additional time and we would still not completely run out of building permits in July of next year. So there are some options, and we’re going to do a parallel track to hopefully continue to get the first plan that we thought we were set to have approved, but we’re going to keep working that and keep working with our legislators, Representative Mooney and Senator Rodriguez, and, of course, the Department of Commerce, to see if we can get to a solution that supports the language that was in there from Monroe County. So it’s all in work, but there could be a longer process to get to where we need to be.”
Will the county continue to use the administrative relief ROGO allocations through July 2027?
Scholl said, “That may be. That is one of the options that we provided to the County Administrator and the county attorney and the staff as something that would basically be a stopgap measure to make sure we can continue to support the property owners that have development rights. So yes, that is one option.”
The state is also talking about potential property tax reductions or eliminations.
Scholl said, “As Jim Mooney, our state rep was on the committee to review state property tax concerns and whether there was a reasonable and agreeable solution, if we were going to do away with property taxes or have a significant reduction and according to Representative Mooney, most of the input and the very emotional input was, how are you going to have a substitute predictable revenue stream so that the counties can continue to operate and provide the necessary functions they do? Which, of course, health, safety, welfare, so law enforcement, fire department, ambulance, those things are a big part of what property taxes go towards. In fact, in Monroe County, 90% of what we collect in property taxes goes to those functions and also then the constitutional officers that we are required. We’re a pass through for them, the state’s attorney, the supervisor of elections, the tax collector, the courts, those things that obviously need support, and that comes from property taxes. So it’s really difficult to try to think of how to have a reliable and steady revenue stream that would not be interrupted. The property taxes, the great example there, the stability there is when we go back to COVID. Obviously the tourism dollars went away for over a year, and those sales taxes plummeted significantly. So there are always things that could impact revenue streams and what you don’t want to have to do is lay off critical workers. If we had to reduce firefighters and reduce law enforcement, that’s certainly not a good formula for the safety of our county. I know they’ve got these proposals, they’ll be vetted by the legislature in this coming session and determine whether they want to have one or some of those go to referendum for the voters, and at that point, it would take 60% of the voters to approve whatever measures may make it to the ballot.”
Is the federal government shut down affecting the county?
Scholl said, “Not yet. Representative Gimenez, our US representative, his feeling is that the shutdown of the federal government will continue, probably through till the end of November, which would be extremely significant, but there are stop gap rules in there for the federal government essential personnel, and a funding proposal for the military, but those have not been passed in the Senate yet. So, we’re really at an unfortunate time, and we’ve had government shut downs in the past, and ordinarily, the military and the essential personnel, like Homeland Security folks, the TSA workers at the airport, are obviously critical to the nation’s ability to conduct business and have airliners be able to continue to operate. Of course, the air traffic controllers, and there’s a whole list of what are considered essential personnel. So politics is creating more angst as we try to resolve the issues and be frugal at the federal government level, while making sure that those services get provided and obviously the Congress is using this as a way to try to persuade issues on either side to get support from the citizenry. It’ll take a while, but it ultimately will get resolved. We just don’t know how that’s going to happen yet.
Are the TSA personnel getting paid?
Scholl said, “I believe they are as an essential part of the workforce. That would could impact us specifically or directly, but more importantly, it’s just the normal day to day economic transactions that happen that require people to travel by air. So there certainly are probably more business travelers than there are tourist travelers on any given day. But yes, it’s important.”
The Boca Chica mooring field project will be added to the multi year implication plan of the Restore Act.
Scholl said, “That one is specifically for the Boca Chica channel mooring field and the property that will support that. Then we already have everything ready to go, except for one final permit for the mooring field that will be in the Key West harbor area. We’re working on one final permit there, but Brittany Burtner is our staff lead for these marine projects, and she’s done a fantastic job. In fact, we recognized her for 10 years of service with the city at Wednesday’s commission meeting. But not only does she work on those mooring field issues, but she’s the one that has set records on derelict vessel removal. That’s been her focus every year since she’s been here. But we finally have been able to get some changes in the laws that were particularly onerous as far as the timeline would go. This year alone, we have already removed over 250 derelict vessels from the Florida Keys. So she’s done a fantastic job, in addition to the mooring field issues. A superb leader for the county in those things. Another one of our superb employees, Dr. Hannah Koch, she’s our director for the artificial reef program, and we’ve had great success since the first one was installed a little over a year ago, I think. She gave us a report, and had showed the structure when it was installed, and then how it’s evolved over the last year, and just an amazing transformation of an area that was pretty much devoid of any aquatic life is now teeming with fish and lobsters and crabs and invertebrates and there’s aquatic vegetation and coral. Just amazing, the transformation that that project has had with the habitat support structures that were installed. Again, amazing upgrade to that area, and there’s plans for many more of those, both on the Gulf side and the Atlantic side. So hats off to Hannah for all she’s done for the county.”
We are going to see a lot of visitors soon.
Scholl said, “Goombay starts today. The streets were officially marked as no parking down there in Bahama Village at eight o’clock this morning, and that will go through noon on Sunday, but that allows for the vendors and everybody to have access down there and get all set up and tonight will be the first big event for the Fantasy Fest week, with Goombay kicking off this evening. Actually, I think it kicks off at noon, but it’ll be a big night down there in Bahama Village and rightfully so. That’s always a great celebration of the Bahamian lifestyle that is a big part of Key West history and I look forward to that every year. I live so close I get to walk, so it’ll be a good Friday night.”
The commissioners also heard about Pigeon Key at the meeting.
Scholl said, “We had a really good presentation by Kelly McKinnon up there at Pigeon Key, and what a transformation they’ve made up there. They’ve done so many capital projects and really improved that, and now their focus is going to be more towards tourism and community events. If you haven’t been to Pigeon Key, I think everybody should go up there, because that is a true gem in the middle of the Florida Keys and an amazing, amazing facility, and Kelly and his crew have done a fantastic job. So my hat’s off to them.”