Residents spoke out about the Key Colony Beach Issues in September:
September 11 and 18, 2025
Fishing in Sunset ParkReport from the First Budget Hearing
The commission held its first formal budget hearing to set the tax rate on September 11. The big news of the meeting, other than that your taxes are going up 8.92%, is that the KCB Treasurer left us baffled about what "roll back rate" means.
KCB's appraised property values rose year over year from $1.211B to $1.289B. That's a 6.44% increase.
Commissioner Harding gave a very confusing definition of the roll back rate. He said roll back "looks back [several] years." That is terribly misleading as well as being totally incorrect.A "roll back rate" is the property tax rate that generates the exact same total revenue for the city as the city received the prior year.
Another way to define it is the millage rate that, if applied to the new appraised value of your house would raise the same amount of taxes as you paid last year.Commissioner Harding also announced that the city hall project will eat up the Reserve fund, the Infrastructure fund, and "completely deplete" the Impact fund. The approved FY25/26 budget now shows $499,018 coming from reserves (none of that total appears earmarked for the city hall project).
Mayor Foster "thinks we're going to have to do reconciliation. We have submitted 7 maybe 8 million worth of grants," he said. He also repeated that "It's time to put a line of credit on the agenda." He conceded that could wait until October.
As was reported in "Vanishing Reserves" in July:$1,900,000 of the city hall construction cost remains in the "hardening" grant and the rest will come from KCB taxpayer-funded KCB reserves. KCB's infrastructure was the first in the Keys to recover from Irma because a prior commission contracted for and staged cleanup and debris hauling well ahead of hurricane season and the city had cash reserves on hand to pay immediate expenses of the cleanup.
That will no longer be the case here.Commissioner Harding will start putting grant reimbursements in his treasurer's reports. "We're going to have to be very careful about cash flow," he said.
The commission had a long discussion of the golf course and the $160,000 budget line for "572-050 course improvements/maintenance." Mayor Foster believes Daryle Rice needs "more skin" in the golf course. Commissioner Harding noted that "we need to step up and replace the equipment for Daryle or Mike to use."
The resolution to Adopt a Tentative Millage Rate of 2.82 mills and the resolution to Adopt a Tentative Budget of $21,655,240 both passed unanimously.
The second and final public hearing on the budget will be held in Marble Hall and on Zoom next Thursday, September 18, at 5:05 p.m. The agenda has not yet appeared.
Fishing
Commissioners,
I have been a legal resident of KCB for 11+ years and for the eight months I am continuously in residence, I visit Sunset park twice daily. I am against fishing at the pier for several reasons.
1. Occupancy- I have observed at the pier next door at the Point condos. It is regularly packed with fishermen. A density like that would prohibit anyone else from using the pier. Even one fisherman would create an obstacle. To call it sightseeing is undervaluing the purpose of the pier. It allows an area for self reflection as well as an opportunity to appreciate the wonderful environment we live in. Dodging casts from fishermen certainly detracts from that enjoyment. Sunset at the park oftentimes brings upwards of 100 people with at least 10-15 persons on the pier. The angle of the sunset is such that the pier allows the best viewing opportunity with the actual sun setting being far to the right and out of view from the majority of the park. It is called Sunset park for a reason. Additionally, I have personally had to dodge errant casts made backward from the pier to the rocks.
2. Cleanliness/Safety- It is unrealistic to assume public works can clean up the mess  in a timely fashion. I don't think public works should function as housekeepers. They would need to visit the site several times a day even if no one was seen fishing there because the end of the pier can not be adequately viewed from the parking lot. A fish cleaning station would exacerbate the situation. Not only the station itself but also the consequence of throwing fish guts etc. off the pier which would totally change the biome under the pier by bringing in opportunistic feeders such as sharks. That scenario is well proven and as wading into the water is being considered that would be putting those people at risk and opening up the city for legal consequences should an incident occur. The city could be seen as complicit by changing the rule of no fishing.
3. Transients- The Keys Weekly has highlighted the proposed change and by doing so has increased exposure of its existence to outsiders who have no connection to KCB either as residents or transient renters who are in the city. Imagine a group of 4-6 people from Miami who are day trippers. I think by opening up fishing on the pier, it opens up the possibility of bringing in people who are not considerate to our park and city via behavior, mess or noise. The bathrooms at the site would make fishing in the park quite desirable compared to other places. I think it would be an invitation for trouble in many ways, taxing our public works department as well as our dedicated police department which will inevitably be called for enforcement.
4. Reality- Indeed KCB is a fishing community and promoting it as such is a worthy idea. However, the idea of fishing with grampa as wholesome and worthy as it is would not be the scenario which will take place. We have canals and there are bridges nearby which could serve that function better and with better fishing results.I don't think fishing at the pier is a positive thing for our community.
Thank you for considering my concerns.
Timothy D. Heitman, M.D.
KCB
Fishing
To: Mayor@keycolonybeach.net, Doug.Colonell@keycolonybeach.net, kirk.diehl@keycolonybeach.net, Tom.difransico@keycolonybeach.net, Tom.Harding@keycolonybeach.net, cityadministrator@keycolonybeach.net, cityclerk@keycolonybeach.net, letters@peopleareasking.org
Subject: FishingI would like to voice my opinion on fishing at sunset park . I am against it and I think it would cause more problems , especially to the residents who live close to the park. I am a resident of KCB.
Gregory Burke
Key Colony Beach
Sunset Park Fishing
To: Mayor@keycolonybeach.net, Doug.Colonell@keycolonybeach.net, kirk.diehl@keycolonybeach.net, Tom.difransico@keycolonybeach.net, Tom.Harding@keycolonybeach.net, cityadministrator@keycolonybeach.net, cityclerk@keycolonybeach.net, letters@peopleareasking.org
Subject: Sunset Park fishingSunset Park has been a beautiful spot for relaxing and watching sunsets, photos, weddings, concerts, and is one of our "lovely" spots in KCB. Putting fishing out on the pier as the backdrop for things mentioned above is going to ruin what we now have. People are not always going to "clean up" and I'm sure we will eventually find fish bones, carcasses, blood, and maybe even trash on our beautiful pier. Please do not allow something that could cause our city to have clean up, enforcement, and other issues in the future. There are more than enough areas to fish in the Keys without having to bring it to our beautiful park.
Ken and Leah Baranowski
Key Colony Beach
Fishing and Reserves and Rental Revenue
To: Mayor@keycolonybeach.net, Doug.Colonell@keycolonybeach.net, kirk.diehl@keycolonybeach.net, Tom.difransico@keycolonybeach.net, Tom.Harding@keycolonybeach.net, cityadministrator@keycolonybeach.net, cityclerk@keycolonybeach.net, letters@peopleareasking.org
Subject: Fishing from Sunset Park and Revenue from rentalsI am 100% against any fishing from the Sunset Park Pier. It was built as an observation deck, not a fishing pier. There are enormous opportunities to fish on all of the fishing bridges in the Keys.
Also, I am disturbed that we are pledging or spending our reserves. I also believe the City should tax vacation rentals at an additional $100/week per unit. That would generate a lot more income.
Bob Carew
Key Colony Beach
Big Spenders
To: Concerned in KCB
Subject: Re: Kicking the Can Down the RoadAs an outsider, I would say KCB has some big spenders on their City Commission. Taxes will keep increasing. Very sad.
Name Withheld
formerly of Key Colony Beach
Final Budget
To: letters@peopleareasking.org
Subject: Final Budget Hearing and a Commission MeetingYou said "Where's the beef?" Isn't the commission seeing financial stuff that we don't seem to get?
More than one person here told me another year with Mayor Freddie's discretionary fund doing "one" project at a time will bankrupt the city?
Please don't sign my name to this. I have to live here, too.
Name Withheld
Key Colony Beach