Islamorada Charter Panel Votes 7-0 to Boost Council Pay to $1,500

Islamorada's seven-person Charter Review Committee voted unanimously to recommend putting a council pay raise before voters, backing a $500 monthly increase that would bring annual compensation from $12,000 to $18,000 and tie future adjustments to a federal inflation index for the first time.

The 7-0 vote at the committee's March 4 meeting endorses a ballot initiative that would lift council members' monthly stipend from $1,000 to $1,500. Village council members have received that same $1,000 monthly rate since the early 2000s, with no mechanism for annual increases. Under the recommended charter amendment, future cost-of-living adjustments would be indexed to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, the same benchmark the Social Security Administration uses to calculate annual benefit increases.

Committee member McBay, who introduced the pay topic, argued the council should be compensated more and that higher pay could attract better candidates. The committee noted that council members devote 30 to 40 hours per week to public office, and members suggested the raise might open the door to younger candidates or those who lack the financial flexibility to serve for minimal compensation. Historically, Islamorada's council has drawn mostly from the ranks of business owners and retirees.

Not everyone on the committee was persuaded the money would produce better results. Raffanello said she worried a pay raise would draw the wrong kind of candidate. "The higher you go, I think the higher it skews the motivation and desire," she said, arguing the village needs civic-minded people who want what is best for Islamorada, not those motivated primarily by compensation.

Councilman Steve Friedman, speaking during public comment before the vote, urged the committee to frame the question on its merits rather than through a political lens. He asked the group to "come at it from a perspective of not what voters might do, but what is right for the village."

The pay recommendation is one piece of a broader charter overhaul the committee has been developing since early 2026. In February, the committee voted unanimously to propose moving council members from two-year to three-year terms and staggering the seats so they are no longer all contested in the same election cycle. All five seats currently appear on the same ballot, a structure that produced a complete freshman council in 2020 and that the committee cited as a risk to continuity in policy and budget decisions. The proposed three-year terms would carry a limit of three total terms per council member.

The committee also recommended giving voters greater say in how council vacancies are filled, though the specific procedural language for that change has not been finalized. Members separately decided to leave unchanged the process by which the council selects the mayor and vice mayor, with several noting those roles are largely ceremonial and the choice should remain with elected council members.

The committee has until May 31 to complete and forward its recommendations. From there, the Village Council would need to consider the proposals before any measures could be placed before Islamorada voters on a future ballot.