Key West The Newspaper

The Monroe County Board of County Commissioners adopted a $457 million Operating and Capital Budget for Fiscal Year 2017 at its final budget meeting Monday at the Harvey Government Center in Key West.

The adopted budget ($133 million for Capital and $324 million for Operating) will soon be available on the County website. The proposed budget is now available at:

http://fl-monroecounty.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/10475.

Property taxes will account for $80.1 million (18 percent) of the total budget.

The budget includes an aggregate millage rate of 3.5360, which is 5.4% less than last year’s rate and .33% below the rolled-back millage rate. The lower millage rate will result in an average of about $20 less in property taxes for every $100,000 of taxable property value.

“We are happy this will be the sixth year out of the last eight we have been able to adopt a budget under roll back,” Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi said. “We are very fortunate our strong local economy continues to support our public projects and governmental operations. This allows us to provide great service to our community and to look ahead to County challenges that include adapting our roads to sea level rise.”

The BOCC portion of the County budget includes a 3.3% performance-based merit increase and a .7% cost of living adjustment for BOCC employees. This includes raising the County’s minimum salary pay to $15 per hour, costing about $260,000 to increase the pay rate of the 93 employees who fall below this level. The budget also includes the Constitutional Officer’s funding and employee pay raises.

The budget includes a $194,000 increase for assistance to low income families by the Monroe County Housing Authority, $547,000 increase for sustainability road and Green Key projects, $72,000 increase for the Human Services Advisory Board and $1.75 million for implementation of the Toll-by-Place for the Card Sound Bridge toll.

The FY 2017 Capital Budget of $133M – which includes about $33 million for wastewater-related infrastructure, $21 million for roads and bridges, $3.9 million for parks and beaches and $6.7 million for the Marathon Library Complex – is part of the County’s 5-Year Capital Plan of $328 million. It reflects a continuing shift toward longer term financial planning.