Property tax may go up $13 a month
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Not surprisingly, the cost of living in Key West is going up. In the latest jump, property owners can look forward to a maximum tax hike of approximately $13 a month starting Oct 1.
That translates to a $1,277 annual property tax bill for a home valued at $428,000, the average home price in Key West, according to Assistant City Manager Sarah Spurlock.
That rate could go down as city officials take a sharper pencil to the proposed budget over the next two months. But by setting a milage rate of 2.9847 per $1,000 of taxable property value at their July 22 budget workshop, city commissioners set a maximum amount property taxes can rise in the next fiscal year.
While state law allows the milage rate to be reduced while budget deliberations are going on, Interim City Manager Jim Scholl doesn’t hold out much hope that will happen. The proposed $44.6 million budget – up from $41.1 million in FY 2014 – includes some new priorities, including the city taking over ambulance and emergency medical services, resulting in a $1.2 million cost increase in FY ’15. Another $526,000 was added to cover mandated higher health care costs to the federal government. That all comes on top of more than two years of budget cutting that leaves little fat, Scholl said.
“They [previous administration led by former City Manager Bob Vitas] have done a commendable job in the last two years reducing costs. Now that is harder and harder to do,” Scholl said. “We’ve trimmed out most of the items we could to reduce expenses.”
Making additional budget cuts could lead to lay-offs, Scholl added, saying, “We want to keep current staffing levels.”
Another large proposed increase in the budget was the source of great debate among city commissioners during the budget workshops that took place on July 21and 22. A recent survey of Key West government employee salaries showed a significant gap between their paychecks and what the market currently pays for the same job. Two-thirds of Key West’s 460 city workers are significantly underpaid as compared to comparable salary ranges at other public sector entities, according to Evergreen Solutions, the Tallahassee-based company that conducted the salary survey.
As a result, Scholl and Spurlock proposed a five-year plan that would incrementally bring the lower salaries up to par with the market. The first year would give pay raises to 128 of the lowest-paid employees, a $1.2 million cost in fiscal 2015.
“This plan would bring all those [128] folks up to minimum and the remaining four years would bring everyone up to what we’re calling ‘tenure,’” Spurlock said. “That’s an expensive proposition. That’s why we’re recommending spreading it over a number of years.”
The Evergreen survey estimated it would cost $5.6 million to bring all under-market city employees up to the middle of the salary range for their position.
“It [Evergreen survey] clearly shows we’re the lowest paid public entity out there,” said Commissioner Teri Johnston. “We wonder why it’s hard to attract people. And we wonder why it’s hard to retain people. I’m glad we’re opening it up.”
During the budget workshops, almost every department head told the commission it was getting harder to find and hang on to good employees because of low salaries.
“I am the person in the city who hears exit interviews when our people leave. The majority of the people who leave the city on the lower end are leaving because of money,” said Human Resources Director Samantha Farist. “We have a salary problem here in the city. My last 15 exit interviews with maintenance workers, they all left because of money.”
The next budget hearing will take place on Sept. 4, when a final budget will be presented. Commissioners will vote on its first reading, then a final, second reading at their Sept. 16 meeting.
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The extra $14 million increase for Waste Management, the high bidder, (why not give the contract to the low bidder and try to save money for the city and the taxpayers who foot the bill?) would have reduced the budget, paid for the ambulance service (is it going to be free? Or will the fee structure cover the startup, wages, and generate a profit?) and allowed property taxes to stay the same or drop.
The reason the cost of living is going up is spendthrift policies. More plebiscites on issues that impact our costs, instead of autonomous decisions would be preferable. Otherwise we will continue to be saddled with the burdens of ill-considered or unreasonable choices.