I said to myself: What the hell is this on my ballot? Of course, when I don't know -- I vote no. I asked around about it. I am always hesitant to amend the Charter anyway.
A person in the county I trust said that she could argue either way. "Taxing districts are hyper-local, so maybe cities should run them. Or the County has an economy of scale and it is easier to handle lighting districts with a single point of contact. Also, many cities didn't want the added responsibility."
Bovo sponsored it. Always suspicious when I don't like sponsor.
9 comments:
The county plays fast and loose with these pots of money often using them like three card monty to suit their needs.. This is a violation of the existing law but as you point out, the accounting is so esoteric few on the outside have any hope of untangling the web J Moon can spin.
it widely known UMSA is "skimming" the tax district money. Billing for ghost employees, equipment and services not to mention administrative overhead which gets charged to the district but are actually used in activities largely outside that district..
The idea of this vote is to get the funds out of county control give it back to the smaller cities who do a better job of oversight... (theoretically).
course there is always the outliers like Florida City, Homestead and Opa Locka who will just squander their money..
Anon above. If you know of abuse - ghost employees or whatever, report it to the authorities. Don't be part of the problem. if you have incriminating information. report it.
Consider that "allow" gives the prerogative to Cities, who may forego to seize control of any of all of these special districts.
Report abuses to who? The county? Doug Hanks reported one of these stories months ago to zero public outrage. The mayor acted shocked, reforms were promised and within weeks it was back to business as usual.
How about don't worry about my ethical soul or Bobo's motivation and vote for the damn amendment.
Why should we vote for it?
It puts control and oversight of taxes closer to the citizen that paid them. Despite county assertions There is no documented economy of scale at the county level as it applies to the small special tax districts. In fact exactly the opposite . The top-heavy county administration actually siphons off taxes from their intended purpose to cover their overhead and with 1000 special tax districts county recordkeeping is fraught with issues.
In other words there's no downside to it and many reasons in favor of supporting it.
Because the current system of county administration of local projects has proven costly. The county offers no economy of scale, in fact due to unions and procurment rules frequently the county cost more....so there is no down side to local control of local tax districts and a large up side of better service for the same cost
This is a back door way to carve out employees from the Miami Dade Living Wage Ordinance.
The usual suspects involved like Bovo...
I too share dismay that I haven't seen in Herald or anywhere else a recommendation on this charter amendment. For those of us planning to vote early (I hope later today), I've been searching for a smart explanation of what this does. ... These special taxing districts could be crucial in financing expansions of rail transit, but the devil is always in the details.
-- John Dorschner
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