Marathon, Florida incorporated as a city in 1999 for the obvious tax advantages. See, cities have taxing authority. It scrawls across Knight’s Key, Boot Key, Key Vaca, Fat Deer Key, Long Point Key, Crawl Key and Grassy Key in the middle Florida Keys, right next door to beautiful South Puffin. The population was 14 in 1820 and reached a peak of 10,626 as of the 2005 U.S. Census estimate.
8,461 souls make Marathon home today.
Marathon’s Finance Chief oversees the city checkbook on a contract basis. Bishop Rosasco & Company gets paid $384,063 for their fiscal year 2013-14 contract.
384,063 U.S. dollars.
8,461 people.
As a comparison, St. Albans City, Vermont, had a population of 6,918 in 2010. It is right down the road from lovely North Puffin. In 2014 St. Albans City, Vermont, budgeted $52,530 for finance and a huge additional cost of $9,000 for audit and audit consulting.
| $384,063. | $61,530 |
| 8,461. | 6,918 |
Wow.