Miami Today: Week of Thursday, July 9, 2015

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2015

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

WWW.MIAMITODAYNEWS.COM $4.00

BANKING & FINANCE

County schools to issue bonds for $200 million in July, pg. 13 MARINE STADIUM LOOK-SEE: The City of Miami may use an $80,000 grant to study parts of long-idled Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key. The iconic concrete waterfront stadium hasn’t been used since Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. City commissioners hope to restore the stadium. Commissioners today (7/9) are to consider acceptance of an American Express National Treasures Program grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to fund extended investigation of pilings, seawall and other underwater structures of the stadium. The program requires the city use the grant solely to investigate the structure in compliance with the US Secretary of the Interior’s standards for the treatment of historic properties. The city can’t use the funds for administrative costs or staff salaries.

Export-Import Bank’s lapse leaves vast void here, pg. 15

THE ACHIEVER

MDX ELECTION RESULTS: Miami-Dade Expressway Authority’s board of directors elected attorney Louis Martinez its chair on Tuesday. He is the founder of Louis V. Martinez P.A. and formerly deputy chief assistant attorney general for the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Florida’s Attorney General. Mr. Martinez, who has been a MDX board member since February 2008, replaces Maritza Gutierrez, the only woman to serve as chair. Shelly Smith Fano, director of Miami Dade College’s hospitality management program and inner-city Hospitality Institute, was elected vice chair. Rick Rodriguez Piña, founder of Rodriguez Piña & Associates, was elected treasurer for a second term. WORKFORCE HOUSING: A Miami-Dade County Commission committee is to vote today (7/9) on an order that would put into effect the county’s workforce housing program, which would set rules under which persons with incomes ranging from 65% to 140% of the county’s median income could acquire workforce housing through the county as their primary residences and sets parameters for the county to acquire the housing for the program. Barbara Jordan is sponsoring the measure, which would direct the mayor to report to the commission each time the county acquired any housing for the program. UPPING THE ANTE: Persons who illegally park in spaces reserved for the disabled would pay a $250 fine if caught under a measure before the county’s Metropolitan Services Committee this week. Commissioners Jose “Pepe” Diaz and Sally Heyman are sponsoring the measure, saying it would free more parking space for the disabled and send added fine dollars to the county. The current fine is $150 for the first offense, $250 for later offenses.

Lester Sola

Photo by Marlene Quaroni

Spearheading mammoth water and sewer upgrades The profile is on Page 4

Unveiling bond-funded projects’ operating costs BY SUSAN DANSEYAR

Taxpayers should know exactly what they’re committing to when they vote to let the county borrow via general obligation bonds, so they need detailed costs of running facilities the bonds are to fund, say members of the Miami-Dade Strategic Planning & Government Operations Committee. To that end, the committee on Tuesday unanimously supported a proposed requirement to disclose estimated operating and maintenance expenses of projects for which bond proceeds are sought as well as the proposed funding source in all resolutions calling for a bond referendum. If adopted by the full county commission, the change in Miami-Dade’s code will also require a statement within the bond summary informing voters that approved general obligation bonds will be paid or secured by taxes derived from the assessed value of property in the county. From time to time the commission asks voters to authorize issuance of general obligation bonds payable from property taxes to construct capital projects. General obliga-

AGENDA

tion bond proceeds may not fund the operation and maintenance of capital projects, yet the expenses for the bond-funded enterprises impose potentially large, yearly obligations on the county that must be addressed in future budgets through either cuts in other spending or increases in tax rates. Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava told committee members Tuesday that she agreed with the principal of being transparent with the public but wasn’t sure of the ordinance’s practicality. “How can we estimate operating costs with the issuance when we don’t have the details?” she asked. “We should have the details on what it’s going to cost,” answered committee Chairman Juan C. Zapata, prime sponsor of the measure. “We need to force government to be clear on how we’ll operate facilities.” Ordinance co-sponsor Esteban L. Bovo Jr. agreed the public needs to know the dollar amount necessary for running a given facility. He said the voters have seen bond issues that never seem to end. “We need to get in the ballpark of giving residents some information, and making it as

clear as possible to them what they’re voting on, and that buildings need to be maintained,” Mr. Bovo said. The measure states the commission wants to consider the potential impact to future budgets created by projects proposed to be funded by general obligation bonds before approving referenda. “Disclosure of the estimated operating and maintenance expenses of such projects as well as the expected source of funds to pay such expenses in all resolutions calling special elections for the bond referendum will provide the board with the information necessary to properly evaluate the public interest in issuing such bonds,” the measure says. The ordinance, should the full commission approve it, will become effective 10 days after it’s enacted unless the mayor vetoes it. Should the mayor veto the ordinance, it would take effect only upon an override by the commission. On June 2, the full commission passed the measure 9-2 on first reading. Dennis C. Moss and Audrey M. Edmonson cast the opposing votes.

West Dade government hub sought A committee is to vote today (7/9) to borrow $10 million to build a government center in West Dade. Voters in 2002 approved borrowing for the Building Better Communities program to fund hundreds of projects. A West Dade center was not among them, but the resolution by Juan Zapata and Audrey Edmonson before the Economic Prosperity Committee would carve the funds out of two other projects that had no specifics attached. An October 2013 report from Mayor Carlos Gimenez picked the projects from which to pull the money and outlined potential uses for a West Dade center: a branch Water and Sewer Department office, commissioners’ district offices, Regulatory and Economic Resources Department offices, a pet adoption center, a branch for the county clerk and a library. The mayor’s report offered county-owned sites for the center, one at Tamiami Executive Airport at Southwest 137th Avenue and 120th Street and the Miami-Dade Kendall Cottages site at Southwest 114th Avenue and 80th Terrace. It also listed vacant privately owned sites west of the Turnpike, east of Krome Avenue, on or south of Kendall Drive and north of 152nd Street. The mayor’s report followed a 2013 commission directive to study feasibility of a West Dade center. That resolution, spearheaded by Mr. Zapata, noted that 733,000 residents in unincorporated West Dade rely on the county for their municipal services. He noted that the county was leasing 90,000 square feet for its Building Department in a shopping center at 11805 SW 26th St. and had other services sprinkled throughout the area “that may be more suitably consolidated in one site such as the proposed government center.” The 2013 study request cited a need similar to the one for the South Dade Government Center at 10710 SW 211th St. in Cutler Bay.

VIRGIN CRUISES BERTH MAY BRING PORT $63 MILLION ...

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CONDOS PLANNED ON WATER NEAR MERCY HOSPITAL ...

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COUNTY MIGHT ISSUE THE UNDOCUMENTED ID CARDS ...

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VENEZUELA STILL PAYS RENT ON VACANT CONSULATE ...

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NEXT KEY STEP ON TAP FOR MAMMOTH WORLDCENTER ...

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NEW YACHT BUSINESS RAISES HOPE ALONG THE RIVER ...

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VIEWPOINT: GET MARLINS TO PAY STADIUM PITTANCE ...

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COUNTY MAY ALLOW PUBLIC INTO CAR SHARING POOL ...

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