May happens to be the eighth month of FY 25/26 which signals for me to begin planning our FY26/27 budget and prepare for the “dog days of summer! LOL, we don’t really experience those days as we did many years ago. I remember when many businesses closed one day a week or closed early but most of all there was no traffic! However, over the years we’ve grown and that has changed. Of course that has many of our residents calling it unbridled growth!
Well, here’s the skinny on our growth; From 1980 to 1990 we grew from 50,000 to 100,000 residents (that could be perceived as unbridled growth). Since then we’ve grown less than 2% per year. I’ve heard many people fear that we will become another Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach, which is ludicrous since we don’t have the land mass, and most undeveloped land in Marin County is protected and outside the urban service boundary. We also have the 4-story height limit.
In essence, we’ve grown by attrition. The most significant change that I’ve experienced is the age of our residents. When I arrived in Martin County in 1989, the average age of our population was in their late 60’s, today it’s in the 50’s. We were also the highest per-capita income county in the state behind Palm Beach. Some years later Collier County (Naples) joined the fray. In those days our wealthy winter residents skewed the numbers. It certainly wasn’t due to large industrial complexes with high paying jobs. We are still in the top 3 highest income counties in the state. I believe it’s caused by many of those winter residents becoming permanent residents here.
That’s my theory, I’m sure others have their own!!
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Catrambone
CEO of the Stuart/Martin County Chamber of Commerce
Board Chairman of the Martin Chamber Foundation
