Across the board pay raises and questions whether an employee performance review system was ever implemented. A “gold-plated Rolls Royce” benefits plan for the Village of Islamorada’s employees and their dependents.
These were two of the many observations made by the Islamorada’s first budget task force, which zeroed in on past village government spending, at a July 17 public information meeting inside the Founders Park Community Center.
Composed of five village residents, the budget task force was created by Village Manager Ron Saunders to instill more transparency and citizen input into the village government. Task force members spent time reviewing financial statements while examining current and past budgets; with it came critical questions and recommendations to tackle issues of excess spending.
The task force is also geared to help the village council as they prepare to enter three budget workshops next month. Saunders said each task force member did their financial and budget dives without consulting each other.
“I told them not to speak to each other or have a meeting,” Saunders said. “The reason for that was I wanted it to be an independent review.”
Task force member and past Councilwoman Elizabeth Jolin delved into several areas she believes warrant policy change or some kind of action to justify expenses by the village, one being staffing levels and efficiencies. Compared to municipalities of similar size, Jolin said, Islamorada’s staffing levels appear high. It’s something Dr. Larry Dalton also noticed in his review.
“The village has 116 full-time employees. In looking at similar municipalities, this number is high,” he said. “The number of employees should be critically examined by each department head, human resources, the finance department as well as the village manager and council.”
Jolin also raised the issue of across-the-board employee pay raises granted yearly despite uncertainty over implementation of an employee review system. Last year, village employees received a 5% raise to account for the raise in the cost of living.
Jolin suggested the village transfer to a merit-based raise system to ensure “accountability and high performance.”
In his report, Dalton said the village’s employee insurance offers one option that’s completely paid for by taxpayers. Dalton called the employee insurance the “gold-plated Rolls Royce benefit plan.” He noted most municipalities with a similar budget offer options where the employee pays a portion of the cost.
The village pays 100% for vision and dental of each employee. The most egregious part, he said, was the benefits package has the taxpayers footing 97% of the health coverage cost for the employee’s family members. Dalton said eliminating insurance coverage for the employee’s dependents would save close to $1 million a year.
In his written report, Joe Roth, owner of Regan Roth Insurance, noted the spending increase over the years in a village that has not grown in size since its inception, has seen no appreciable growth in full-time residents and hasn’t seen an explosion in new homes since the area of critical state concern designation limited new building.
“Clearly there are factors that would increase costs but when I look at the budget summary for 2024-2025 and note increased expenditures over year before at 18.6% it begs the question are we overspending and where,” he said.
Stephanie Scuderi came up with a list of questions surrounding a number of dollar figures in prior budgets. It ranged from the $180,000 for lobbyists, $750,000 for legal services through Weiss Serota and a line time in each department for GoDaddy.
Per the village’s newsletter, the village purchased Microsoft Office 365 services through GoDaddy. Each department had a budget line to cover email and software access for staff. At the end of 2024, the village transitioned away from GoDaddy and began working directly with Microsoft. The shift saved the village $4,605.96 annually by eliminating GoDaddy.
Joe Jiovenetta, CEO for Alma Wealth, submitted questions to the village on cash management policies, investment policy statements and policies and procedures on bond refunding.
Work by the task force was well received by village residents attending the information session.
“In the past we’ve been promised to have line item reviews to eliminate indifferences, outdated expenses and nonessential items. It’s wonderful to see we’re now getting to that,” said Joe Wischmier.
Sue Miller said task force members created more ideas and questions over spending than the village has seen in the last 10 years.
“I’m really pleased with what you’re accomplishing,” she said.
Village council members approved a tentative millage rate of 3.000 for 2025 TRIM (Truth in Millage) notices during the July 22 meeting. Budget workshops are set for Aug. 5-7 at the Founders Park Community Center.
The 2025 gross taxable value provided by the Monroe County Property Appraiser’s Office
is $7,045,812,143. The Village’s 2024 gross taxable value was $6,485,345,287. The village’s taxable value for budgeting purposes has increased $560,466,856 from the prior year.
