Questions over Islamorada Village Council pay, terms and other items will likely head to voters in the November election.
At a June 9 meeting, the council approved a series of ordinances, which notably call for a referendum on whether to amend the village charter on matters such as raising council’s monthly pay and staggering terms so all five seats aren’t up for election every two years. These were recommendations from a seven-person Charter Review Committee, which met for several months to review and propose potential changes.
Council members must approve the ordinances again on second reading before questions over raising pay from $1,000 to $1,500 and providing three-year staggered terms head to voters.
If approved, a council member’s term would go from two to three years beginning with the 2026 election. A transition period would be created so the terms could be staggered. The three candidates who received the highest number of votes in the November 2026 election would receive three-year terms ending in November 2029. The remaining two elected candidates would get two-year terms.
Any candidate who goes unopposed and elected would receive a three-year term. If more than three candidates are unopposed in the upcoming election, terms would be determined by lot, such as pulling straws or pulling names out of hat.
“We just needed to account for some way to choose who that would be if that does in fact happen,” said village attorney John Quick.
Despite garnering unanimous support, the proposal gathered some concerns over how it could cost taxpayers more money with special elections needing to be held in nonpresidential and congressional election years.
“I know this is up to the public and I don’t know if this will pass or not, but I think that needs to somehow play into this, that it’s $27,000 more of taxpayer dollars.”
Charter review committee members believed asking voters about four-year terms would likely fail. That’s evidenced by previous ballot questions that were overwhelmingly voted down.
Councilwoman Deb Gillis said the four-year terms would be better, as it would allow elections to be held during national elections. But the strong sentiment to go to staggered terms was the driving factor for three-year terms.
“And I agree on staggered terms, but I do not agree with staggered terms on two-year terms because that means every year we’re going to have an election,” she said. “The pros: you extend the council so that they can serve better, because I do believe education sitting here serves better.”
