Craig Cates, Monroe County Commissioner of District 1, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been happening in the county.
There have been recent discussions about assessments which are needed to be levied for sea level rise and the rising cost of that.
Cates said, “These projects that we’re moving forward with for sea level rise and sunny day flooding with the king tides in some areas, it’s really bad, and one of them is Twin Lakes, and that’s a project we’re moving forward with and it’s moving, I’m not exactly sure when it will be completed, but it’s come a long ways, and it should be completed this year by the middle of the year or the end. But that being said, we’re talking about a special assessment to help pay for it. We’ve got grant money from the state, the federal government. It’s about a $24 million project, and this the county has to put in 10 million of it. We want to move forward with ease. We want to do the projects, but they only benefit small areas. And so we’re discussing putting assessment on the houses that benefit from these this road work and the maintenance of the pump systems, which could be expensive, and split that among the residents of those homes, and we’re looking at 25% of the 25 million which would be $25,000 one time payment, or $2,000 a year for 20 years, and the maintenance costs will come out around $2,000 a year that each resident would have to put in, it could be put on their tax rolls to pay for the maintenance of those home systems. So that’s a discussion. We asked our staff to move forward with it, and we’ll be discussing that, possibly vote on it at this coming meeting, April 16 in Marathon.”
Stillwright Point will also be discussed.
Cates said, “That project is $40 million and we want to talk about the possible assessment on that neighborhood to help pay for that. We try to be fair with everybody, the sewer systems was a 25% cost that the residents had to pay and this here, we’re using that number to start with 25% of the county’s share of putting that in. The reason behind this is it’s a lot of money to be spent in one area to benefit a smaller group of residents, but it’s very important we all totally understand that, and we have a lot more projects to do. They said we’re about a billion dollars in road elevations need to be eventually done to the Keys. So that is money that the county doesn’t have, and we’re trying to come up with ways to help fund it as we move forward and address these sea level rise conditions.”
The legislative session in Tallahassee is past the halfway mark for the year.
Cates said, “State Representative Jim Mooney was definitely set on a lower number and I understand that, and I supported that also, we get the minimal amount to ward off all the takings cases for 10 years as we work through addressing sea level rise, what roads, elevations, increasing our infrastructure, power grid, the water system, all of those things need to be taken in consideration as you increase the amount of ROGO units and more building in the Keys. Our Senator was going by what the county had requested to 40 years and the 3,500, so they come up with a compromise, 1/4 of the 3500, she came up with 825 that she would support for ten years. Our state representatives agreed to support that number, and I think they just went through the third reading for our state representative and made those changes. I believe the state Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez, her reading will come up before the committee, I think, this week or next week, and then they will be completely aligned after that, with all the rest of the details of their bills, which that has to be before they go to the floor to be voted on each side, they have to be exactly the same. So that’s wonderful that they’re working together, compromising and come up with something that the residents can work with and we can plan for the future.”
There has been a lot of talk about cuts in all levels of government.
Cates said, “I had my first budget meeting yesterday with our budget director and the County Administrator and both the assistant county administrators, talking about all the departments, bringing up possibilities of cutting back or just scaling down certain operations that aren’t absolutely necessary, and planning that’s a good possibility from the federal government will get cuts on departments or grants that they give us, and then possibly the state too. So we have to plan that those are a possibility and we have to look at all our departments. We tasked all our department directors, to look at line by line, all their expenses and see what is necessary and what we could get away with not having to do and prioritize them. If it comes to a certain point that we do have to cut back like that, we’ll be ready, and it won’t be a shock. We want to have this planned and systematically do it so it has the least impact on the services of the county.”
There was even talk about cutting the sales tax and property tax.
Cates said, “We have to be prepared for whatever happens. We represent the citizens, and that’s our responsibility, so we’re going to be best prepared as possible.”
FEMA is now supporting the elimination of Monroe County’s remedial plan code amendments for storage and enclosures.
Cates said, “That’s absolutely going to be helpful, I believe. The residents don’t have to worry about their enclosures being a problem when they purchased it, was it done before they purchased it, and now they’re responsible for it. That should be all changed. We will remove the restriction of the 299. We have a resolution to start moving forward with that. I support doing the whole underside of your house. If you want to do that, or whatever side you want, there’ll be no restrictions on it, and also the inspections that they have to be done before someone can sell their house. So that being said, I think it’s going to be a lot easier on everyone, and actually makes for that space underneath your house that you can use it now. So I think the county’s worked very hard to show FEMA that we are doing everything that that they asked, and evidently, they agreed with us and allowed us to remove them now.”