Carlos Gimenez raids property taxes for convention center which has its own tax (but that was raided for stadiums). By Geniusofdespair

The Rob Peter to pay Paul Budget Guru - Creator of the Sleight of Hand Budget

You heard of the saying "Rob Peter to pay Paul except in this case PAUL (tourist taxes) can only be used for Convention Centers (which they stretched into meaning stadiums). Peter is our sacred Property Tax money that can be used for anything.   Well our property taxes are now being used for the Miami Beach Convention Center because these stadiums bankrupted the Tourist Tax and the convention center STILL needs $580 million.

You have, of course, heard them say over and over that the tourist tax, money they use for STADIUMS, can only be used for that. It is actually money set aside for Convention Centers not stadiums.  Well Gimenez is taking our short supply of property tax monies to pay for the Miami Beach convention center in a convoluted deal. And this of course SUCKS. Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald reported this July 4th. It was buried on a holiday and I think it is the most important story of the week:

Jorge Gonzalez, the former Miami Beach city manager, said the agreement highlights the legacy of the 2009 decision by Miami-Dade to spend hotel taxes on Marlins Park. By tying up hotel taxes for the stadium — ballpark debt is slated to take up $9 million in hotel taxes this year — Miami-Dade can’t dedicate tourist-generated dollars for the convention center.

“Yes, we’re using hotel taxes for the baseball stadium,’’ said Gonzalez, now manager of Bal Harbour Village. “But we’re using property taxes for the convention center.”

This might turn out to be a good deal for Miami Beach with all the perks that Carlos Gimenez is offering but it is a deadly deal for us. We have been lied too. This deal postpones the inevitable, it is a sleigh of hands. And it left us in debt to the Marlins.

As part of a complicated swap with Miami Beach, Gimenez wants to delay paying $18 million in property taxes to the resort city this year and another $14 million in 2016. In exchange, Miami-Dade would add about 20 years to the life of a special taxing district around the Lincoln Road area — which is forecast to cost Miami-Dade about $800 million in diverted property taxes during the extension through 2045.

Read the article and see how you have been lied to about this stupid tax over the years. Barbara Jordan always says, when she approves ever Stadium scam, "it is not our taxes the tourists pay it." They keep saying, it is not our tax money it is tourist money and they approve the deals. Well now it is our tax money. Because they spent the damn convention money on stadiums.

Stadiums are the thorn in the side of every mayor in Miami Dade County because they keep entertaining them. And the stupid commissioners, they agree to everything. What is wrong with just plain NO. Beckham is off to Broward, good riddance. Read the article in the Miami Herald.