Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.8/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the city.
Henriquez was elected mayor in August.
She said, “I got sworn in on August 26 at noon, and I have been hitting the ground running ever since. I did have my first budget hearing last week, so I have that one underneath my belt. Then I had my first regular commission meeting coming up this Thursday, but during the budget workshop back in July, the finance director had a tentative tax rate of 12% above rollback. Since then, the finance director had worked over the past few months and presented us, like I said last week, with a 6% over rollback. So she has really sharpened her pencil and listened to the commissioners, so she was able to pretty much cut it in half and I would like to see, which I believe the majority of the commission would like to see it to either 4 or 5% over rollback. There’s some that don’t want to see any increase. So there’s currently about 92 reserve days that we have for an emergency, which is approximately $209,000 per day and the code reads that we have to have a minimum of 72 reserve days. So I had suggested, if we can use one or two days as well as remove some of the consultant fees and studies, then we can get down to that 4 or 5% over rollback. So we’ll see. The final updated budget will be presented to us on September 17, for us to vote on.”
Henriquez has been the tax collector for the last 20 years.
She said, “With my previous role as tax collector for 20 years, everyone knows my reputation on how I feel about wasting taxpayer dollars, and I always balance to the penny, and I never had a recommendation or a finding in my budgets.”
How has everything been going so far as mayor?
Henriquez said, “In our first budget meeting that we were all together up there on the dais when we had asked approximately how long do we think that meeting is going to be? They said an hour and a half, and ended up being over three hours. So that is because they were very well engaged and asking a lot of questions. So I really think that this board is going to be great and what’s best for the city of Key West.”
The city manager position and the bond referendum were also up for discussion.
Henriquez said, “At that budget meeting, the Board also approved for the advisory screening committee for the new city manager to expand the candidates up to mile marker 33. So that was approved, and the candidates have already been selected by each of the commissioners, and they are ready to move forward.”
What would Henriquez like to see get accomplished going forward?
She said, “I had always advocated for transparency, communication and trust. Those are the three things that are very important to me and our community. If we could have transparency within our city hall, communication and trust, together, we can move mountains. So my thing is I am not a huge proponent on consultants. I don’t like to waste taxpayer dollars. The ones that we have currently on the shelf, I want to dust them off, and we need to move forward.”
There are about 48 items on this week’s city council meeting’s agenda.
Henriquez said, “I know one of the items that are upcoming on this agenda, which includes a resolution approving the three year agreement with a three year option with the American Cruise Lines that use the Mallory T pier.”
Will the cruise line issue be revisited in the future?
Henriquez said, “Right now we’re going to continue on the course, but if there are constituents out there that would like to bring it up, then we’ll have to discuss it at that time.”
How did throwing out the first pitch for the Marlins in Miami go?
Henriquez said, “That was more nerve wracking than actually getting sworn in as mayor, because when you have your husband and your son that’s been in professional baseball for years and years and years, their expectations are very high, and I believe they were expecting me to throw an 80 mile an hour fastball. I had spoken to Billy the Marlin, him and I had a little personal talk, and I said, no matter what you do, please make me look good out there. It was a lot of fun. He did good. He caught the ball. So I was happy overall.”
Key West will be proclaiming National Diaper Need Awareness Week soon and Childhood Cancer Awareness Week.
Henriquez said, “I just want to say one more thing, don’t forget on September 11 is the remembrance day for 911 and they’re going to have a ceremony at the Alex Vega firehouse museum beginning at 8:15 this Wednesday.”
Were there any surprising during the swearing in?
Henriquez said, “As soon as I was sworn in, my calendar was already full for that week where I read my first proclamation for the Jimmy Buffet Day. We greeted 40 members from Mississippi to the city of Key West, and they wanted to learn more about the city. I was able to speak in front of 50 students at Somerset High School, and I will tell you they did their homework because they had a lot of great questions that day. So it was just, it was a very busy, busy first week. So they didn’t give me any time to celebrate. It was about 20 minutes of celebration, and then it was time to get to work. I’d just like to thank everybody again for allowing me to be able to serve the city of Key West and my door is always open. If you have any concerns or any ideas that you think that you can make our city better, please reach out to me, email me. I’m here for everyone.”