Miami Beach cancels homelessness tax referendum days before election

Catch up quick: Referendum 8, known as the Homeless and Domestic Violence Tax, sought to impose a 1% tax on food and beverage sales at qualifying restaurants and bars in Miami Beach.

• The tax, already in effect in dozens of cities across Miami-Dade County, would fund work by the county Homeless Trust to build housing for the unsheltered and domestic violence centers.
• A majority of Beach voters supported the idea of the tax in a 2021 straw ballot and the previous City Commission approved the ballot language last year.

The latest: Commissioners voted 4-3 to call off the referendum, arguing that the city already funds homelessness efforts and criticizing the campaign to pass the referendum as misleading.

• Commissioner David Suarez, who spearheaded the removal effort, said the tax would hurt small businesses and benefit real estate interests bankrolling the pro-tax campaign.
• Suarez said the campaign has been misleading voters to believe that tourists would pay the tax, despite hotels and motels being excluded.
• "Democracy isn't just about having a vote, it's about ensuring that votes are cast with clear, fair and transparent information."

The other side: Homeless Trust Chairman Ron Book said he was surprised that the commission would deprive residents their right to vote.

• "This issue was put on the ballot. Over 20,000 people on Miami Beach have already voted. Somebody woke up and realized we were winning and they decided to ambush the voters because they didn't trust them to control their destiny."

Between the lines: Mayor Steven Meiner, who voted to remove the referendum, implied that he believed a majority of voters were going to approve the homelessness tax, based on the 2021 results.

• "It's a compassionate item when you look at it, obviously there's a lot of sort of legal aspects and politics involved but you can't get that into a 75-word ballot question."

The intrigue: Suarez, who was elected last November, conceded that the "timing is not ideal" for halting the referendum but said he didn't realize Referendum 8 was on the ballot until last month.

• "I didn't know about this. I don't think anyone knew about this."

Reality check: Four of the seven commissioners were in office last year when the commission voted to place Referendum 8 on the ballot.

• City Attorney Ricardo Dopico said commissioners also received written notice of the ballot questions in August.

There's more: Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez — who voted last year to approve the referendum — blamed the city attorney's office Wednesday for not reminding commissioners that it was on the ballot.

• "We never knew that it was going on the ballot. And Frankly, I was shocked when I saw it on the ballot and when I saw the campaign starting to be run."

Yes, but: Rosen Gonzalez was aware of the looming election in March, when she told Axios she wanted to remove the referendum herself.

What they're saying: Commissioner Tanya Katzoff Bhatt, who voted to keep the referendum on the ballot, said the city had set "God-awful precedent" by interfering in an active election.

• "We have been advised in writing over the past number of months and there were ample opportunities to have conversations with our legal team to discuss this issue."

Commissioner Alex Fernandez, a member of the Homeless Trust board, criticized the commission for "taking away the community's vote" and vowed to resign from the Trust in protest.