Additional Taxing and Legislating Authority

If you currently do not live within any city limits, you are in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.

Many County Commissioners would like everyone in Miami-Dade County to be annexed or incorporated into a city. The argument is that they should only be concerned with the running of the major amenities in Miami-Dade County, like the airport and seaport.

Some areas in the county are currently in MACs coming up with budgets and "studying" the incorporation of certain areas into cities. These people were appointed by your Commissioner and usually live within the area to be incorporated. It is very likely that you reside in one of these "study" areas, but are not even aware that this has been going on for over a year. The county makes the most minimal attempt in letting people know this is even going on until you are notified by a postcard to attend a couple of meetings just before it goes before the Commission for a hearing. By this time, all the presentations, budgets, etc. have been done. Most people do not even know their area is vying to become a city until it appears on a ballot during an election. And, if you're lucky, it isn't a "special election" just called for this issue. Because, then, you might not even know you were supposed to go vote. Sometimes these elections are scheduled to go to the public during holidays so that only a small handful of people "in the know" exercise their civic duty. Is this fair and above board? No, of course not. But we all need to be aware of how an issue can be skewed to obtain a desired outcome by the few, that will affect so many.

One of the most important issues for people to consider, when considering annexation to an existing city or incorporation into a new city, is the fact that you will be dealing with a new and ADDITIONAL TAXING AUTHORITY. Being part of a city means you will be paying a part of your property taxes for the new city, instead of the taxes going to the Unincorporated Municipal Service Fund (UMSA).

So, yes, that portion of your tax dollars will be earmarked for the new city. But, the new city, because it is an ADDITIONAL TAXING AUTHORITY, also has the authority to change the millage rate on your property so that you will be taxed at a higher rate. Out of the 34 cities that exist in Dade County, only two have kept a lower millage rate than unincorporated Dade County. The rest are higher; some substantially.

Miami-Dade County, will still also be a taxing authority that can raise the millage rates on the County-wide tax portion of your bill. So you end up with two governing bodies of politicians, BOTH of which can raise your property taxes.

And, if Miami-Dade County succeeds in having ALL their neighborhoods incorporated or annexed into cities, (each person needs to ask their Commissioner if they agree with this ) the current study by PMG suggests that the County Commission will still keep control over the property that is outside the Urban Development Boundary. (mostly undeveloped property in west Dade.) The study also said that the County would currently need an additional 78 million dollars to maintain this land, so it looks like we may STILL be saddled with an UMSA tax....or they may call it a UBD Tax. But it will create yet, another opportunity for politicians to bump up millage rates on this new category, giving them cart blanche to raise it up to the 10 mil limit that is the current maximum set by the state of Florida legislature. It will be presented to the voters that we need to "save the UDB" and to "Hold the Line" on development. We just need to vote another tax upon ourselves. It will be presented as an environmental cause because we know how easily people will vote for stuff like that without considering they are giving up even MORE TAXING AUTHORITY to politicians.

Those people who want to become part of a city will tell you that the difference in your tax bill is the price of one meal out, but by allowing another whole slew of politicians to be an ADDITIONAL TAXING AUTHORITY also gives them the ability to raise ALL the other taxes and fees and fines within the city. The only limitation they have is the fact that they MUST charge AT LEAST what the State or County currently charges. So it will never be less. Any businesses will be paying for two occupational licenses, which usually will cost twice what they currently pay, but can go much higher. You will lose any flood insurance discounts on your property because your city must reapply for all flood zones to the Federal government. It took Palmetto Bay over ten years to get theirs done. And the fines will increase in costs and numbers because enough money needs to be provided for the new department to operate. This new governing level can also pass new legislation to govern within their city. Again, it is not allowed to enact any legislation that would be more relaxed/held to a lesser standard than the county's, so it will naturally be more stringent. The operative thing to remember here is that your city politicians will act as an ADDITIONAL TAXING AND LEGISLATING AUTHORITY.

So, please consider this when you are trying to decide if "a sense of community" or "government closer to the people" or new street signs or red light cameras are worth giving up more of your money to be part of a city.

Deborah Lamb