Also a parent and an Islamorada resident and taxpayer.

Who’s minding the store?

We hear repeatedly from both the mayor and the Village Manager that the reason few residents attend village workshops and meetings – residents are completely satisfied with the Village and the decisions made by staff and council.

I do not believe that and according to our readers neither do scores of residents.

Trust and Transparency: I do not feel residents have complete trust in the information provided by the Village.

Transparency builds trust by reducing uncertainty, it signals honesty and helps people verify that words and actions align.

When transparency is missing, trust suffers.

Some examples:

“No Tax RATE Increase” In Saunders letter to the community last Monday, he again rehashed about the budget approved weeks ago, with “no rate increase.”

That is misleading. It is not an achievement. Saunders stated that for the last two years “The current Village Council has not raised Islamorada’s millage rate despite rising costs….”

What???   It appears he is trying to help the incumbents win reelection by failing to mention the same rate resulted in a 7% tax increase this year and 9% last year.

That equals to over a 16% raise in taxes in their tenure.

The tax increase especially impacted properties without the benefit of a homestead exemption, including second homes, rental homes, businesses. The vast majority of taxpayers.

• The 2.65 mills approved in Sept 2024 generated a total property tax of $16,738,600

• The 2.65 mills approved in Sept 2025 generated a total property tax of $18,264,500 - a 9.11% tax increase over previous year.

• The 2.65 mills approved in Sept 2026 generated a total property tax of $19,527,500 – a 6.91% tax increase over previous year.

That is an increase in actual property tax of $2,788,900 in just two years, $2.8 million extra to spend without increasing the rate!

That rate claim by the manager is meant to take your eye off the ball, while the 16% tax increase is the bottom line.

REDUCING the millage rate would be an achievement.

A close look at the budget details and bills paid by the Village shows significant areas to cut spending.

I submit that an efficiency audit would expose much waste and more efficient ways to control spending in 2027.

We seem to fear an audit that is 27 years overdue.

Why?

If you want to brag, show real results, not slight of hand.

We are smarter than that.

2026-2027 Budget: When the Council approved the 2.65 millage rate on Sep 28, 2026, there was no corresponding budget for the Council and public to review before approval.

The mysteriously unseen budget was approved anyway…. virtually sight unseen, except by the finance director.

The October Council meeting was just a week later – yet still no budget was provided for review.

As of the Oct 27 writing of this letter, the mystery budget approved Sep 28

is quite a challenge to find on the Village website. It’s not under the Finance Department menu where prior budgets are.

Still don’t know if Fire Chief Abel got the 19% PAY INCREASE the council had approved earlier.

Lower Matecumbe Canal Culvert Project: The Village signed a $9 million contract for a canal improvement project on Lower Matecumbe.

Residents and the Sea Base around MM74 had already put up with a total disaster on the Bike path there for a couple years.

It got worse… for the last year residents have endured the noise, dust and dirt, garbage, staging of equipment, and destruction of the bike path.

What is the real status of this project?

The $9 million project was approved 18 months ago and since then - not a peep out of the Village to the public about the good, the bad, or the ugly.

Don’t residents have a right to be informed? What is the delay on this critical project?

The council has as one of their achievements this term, complete with photo ops, a grant to improve this area of the bike path. Yet the bike path is a public relations nightmare for those involved in oversight and has created much angst for the residents.

Council Meeting Agendas: Why can’t complex meeting agendas that are typically 500 to 900 pages long be provided to the public more than a couple days in advance.  How about agendas made public a week in advance?

Often additional pages provided to Council at the meeting are unavailable to the public.  Add-ons should be prohibited after the agenda deadline. OOPS! What deadline?

The members of council meet with the manager and senior staff members individually to be briefed before the council meetings, to assure council members understand the agenda. Those meetings sometimes last several hours each.

What is the purpose of spending extra hours of staff time for each member of council:

It appears they want to avoid the need to discuss the details in front of the public at the council meeting?

Staff explanations of the agenda should be done in public at the council meeting.

Public Comment: The mayor bragged about how many times he allowed the public to comment at a recent council meeting. Let’s remind him – public comment is required by law during a majority of council agenda items.

It’s not because of his sense of civic duty… it is because he is required to do so.

Leadership hints:

• Amend the meeting procedures so that public comment is available with every agenda item.

• Stop approving major expenditures as part of a consent agenda without discussion and individual public comment.

• Provide opportunity for council/staff response to the public.

In conclusion, I repeat, our village lacks oversight and true organizational skills.

Tom