Neighbors,
We will vote in November on whether to become a city. If Yes wins, our county commissioner will select a committee of residents to develop a founding document, called a charter. This committee will present their charter to the county commission, whose approval results in a second election to approve the charter. Yes in the second election would allow the County to create the city.
Please allow the following considerations to inform your decision. I have detailed many of these facts with documentation on my blog. I invite you to E-mail me or reach me on social media if you have specific questions or want to start a discussion.
I cannot quickly or easily answer whether taxes will go up if we incorporate, though they can go up even if we don’t. Many neighbors would pay marginally more in taxes for increased safety and property values, which could come with a well managed city. If we become a city we must work hard to make it a good city. Miami Dade County has many rather unfortunate cities. Most of them, in fact.
Please allow the following considerations to inform your decision. I have detailed many of these facts with documentation on my blog. I invite you to E-mail me or reach me on social media if you have specific questions or want to start a discussion.
Status Quo (or the situation today)
In our community many people get by most of the time without much issue, but we do ourselves disservice if we accept the situation today as good enough.
- Severe parking shortage in the condominiums
- Flooding of properties and roads during storms
- Extreme rush hour traffic on our most important thruways
- Car break ins and thefts
- Armed robberies
- Local tax money funding services in other areas of the county (donor community)
- Sharing a county district with other areas, decreasing the attention our representatives give us, and the services we get for what we spend
If We Become a City we would
- elect a local city council, hires employees to maintain the city,
- contract or develop locally dedicated police, increasing service substantially, but also greatly increasing the cost
- develop a local planning and zoning code, as well as enforcement mechanisms
- Pay ~5% of our budget to county for 7 years as mitigation
I cannot quickly or easily answer whether taxes will go up if we incorporate, though they can go up even if we don’t. Many neighbors would pay marginally more in taxes for increased safety and property values, which could come with a well managed city. If we become a city we must work hard to make it a good city. Miami Dade County has many rather unfortunate cities. Most of them, in fact.
To be an exception we need to work exceptionally.
With great hopes for our future,
Prem Lee Barbosa
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