Miami-Dade plays hard ball with city on homelessness
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Miami-Dade County is demanding that Miami Beach pay its "fair share" to fund countywide homelessness services after the city repealed a referendum calling for a tax to support those efforts.
Why it matters: Referendum 8, a 1% food and beverage tax on restaurants and bars that sell liquor, would have funded an estimated $10 million a year for county homelessness and domestic violence programs.
- The City Commission's decision to repeal the vote means the county now has a budget gap to fill, local officials say, as a new state law bans municipalities from allowing the unsheltered to sleep in public.
Driving the news: During a confrontational meeting Wednesday, the County Commission condemned the city for canceling a ballot question while voting was already underway.
- The county board voted to divert several million dollars from the Miami Beach Community Redevelopment Agency to fund services for the unsheltered and victims of domestic violence.
- The sponsor of the proposal, County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, estimated it would amount to about $8 million. She also proposed diverting future funds related to the construction of the Miami Beach Convention Center hotel.
- The funding proposal still requires Miami Beach approval, commissioners said.
- "Miami Beach is not paying its fair share," Higgins said.
The other side: Miami Beach officials, who attended the county meeting, said they could propose an alternative funding plan to give the county about $4.8 million a year.
- On top of the $5.2 million the city already spends on homelessness services in the city, that would add up to $10 million, they argued.
- Miami Beach Commissioner David Suarez, who led the charge to repeal Referendum 8, proposed paying the county $4.8 million for two years and placing a new homelessness tax referendum on the 2026 ballot, the next year it can legally be put for a new vote.
The intrigue: Higgins, whose district includes Miami Beach, said the referendum would have passed if city officials had not repealed it. Election results showed that 52% of voters approved it.
- Votes for Referendum 8 did not officially count, but the county elections department kept a tally of the votes because the voting machines were already programmed to count them prior to the 11th-hour repeal.
Commissioner Raquel Regalado said if a deal isn't worked out, the county can divert money from the newly created North Beach Community Redevelopment Agency.
- She said the county doesn't want to get into a "bizarre standoff" with the city, but Miami Beach forced the issue when it called off the referendum.
- "We have been forced to play hardball. We did not want to do this."