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.
Henriquez was at the Florida League of Cities legislative committee meeting over the weekend.
She said, “I am now part of the legislative committee, and that is for the finance and taxation legislative policy committee. So we had our first meeting on Friday in Orlando, and there was a variety of mayors, commissioners and city managers in attendance. So I’m excited to be a part of this committee, especially being a previous tax collector. And this policy committee helped set the legislative platform for the League of Cities in advance of the legislative session, which starts this next year, January 13 of 2026 and on this committee, the chairman went over the potential 2026 priority and policy issues for the committee, which are ad valorem taxes, which we know the governor is trying to remove property taxes, the local option sales tax and the local business tax reform. So just a little FYI ad valorem property taxes generated $55.18 billion in 2024 and then out of that, the city’s received $8.6 billion which is 15.7% statewide of those property taxes. So like I said, we did meet last week. It’s a very complex topic, trying to remove property taxes. When the legislative team, there was about 39 of them, I believe, met last week in Tallahassee, they don’t have a plan. They’re working on it and it’s not a one size fits all. There’s a lot of moving parts. Just for instance, the smaller counties, they’re already fiscally restrained counties with property taxes and removing them, I mean, I just don’t know how they’re going to be able to run their city. So this committee does meet three times. We’ve already met in September, we meet again in October, and then we should have a plan moving forward by December. I will continue to keep you and your listeners updated. Just remember one person’s exemption is another one’s tax. So it was really like a kick off and trying to come up with the three topics, and October, we’ll get really into it, and then by December, we should have a plan to present to the legislation in January.”
Could the committee be looking at doing away with ad valorem taxes?
Henriquez said, “In listening to their meeting, the governor is very adamant on wanting to remove property taxes, but the legislative committee, they didn’t really have a plan. They always basically said that they’re working on it. Because, like I said, it’s not a one size fits all, you have the small counties, the medium counties, the large counties, and to remove property taxes, and try and put it on sales tax, are we going to have a 12% or 15% sales fee now? So like I said, it’s not a one size fits all. So they really don’t have a plan. So it’s going to be very interesting in the next couple months to see how they move forward.”
The Key West City budget has been finalized.
Henriquez said, “I was actually glad to be able to participate. I wasn’t able to participate in the one before. And it is $286 million for the 2025/2026, and the final millage rate is 1.9551 which equals to 4% more than the rollback rate. So there was a little bit of discussion, not anything really major controversy, just trying to clean up a little bit and tighten it up a little bit. But for the most part, we were able to pass, it was a 5-1, I believe and now we have the final budget in place, and we’re ready for October 1.”
Spending is also being scrutinized by the state.
Henriquez said, “The Senate is looking at not wasting taxpayer dollars, and they’re also looking at making sure that there’s no fraud, and excessive spending. We will keep your listeners and everyone informed as we move forward in reference to that. Wednesday, they have the Take Back the Night, which is shatter the silence of domestic and sexual violence starting at 6:30 at Bayview Park. Thursday, we do have the Bahama Village Redevelopment Advisory Committee, that will be here at City Hall at 5:30 so really that’s basically the only meeting that we have here this week. On Friday, we have plogging the Keys the early bird cleanup. It’s at dead man’s curve on South Roosevelt Boulevard. Starting at 8am we’ll meet along the seawall at the east end of the island, and the Key West Junior Football League is hosting this event. They reached out to us because they have so many volunteers and so many people help them, and they wanted to give back. So they’re going to host the plogging this week. Then Saturday is the hazardous waste drop off event, which is the first Saturday of each month, and it’s for residents only. It’s at the Sunny McCoy Indigenous Park, and that’s from 8am to noon. Then also, I will announce again next week, mark your calendars, the Key West Fire Department is celebrating 150 years next Saturday, October 11, at the Truman Waterfront Park, and that’s going to be from 1 to 4. They’re going to have food, fun, parade demonstrations. So please mark your calendars and join us in celebrating a century and a half of serving the Key West Community. I’m really looking forward to that. We do have the October 9 commission meeting starting at nine here at the chambers. I do believe it’s going to be a full agenda.”