Dear Commissioners of Miami-Dade County,
It has come to my attention that Commissioner Barbara Jordan has placed on the Agenda for this morning’s Commission meeting, an item entitled, “RESOLUTION URGING THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO PASS LEGISLATION REINSTATING LANGUAGE PROHIBITING CERTAIN MUNICIPAL WATER AND SEWER UTILITIES FROM IMPOSING A SURCHARGE ON CONSUMERS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE CITY AS ”TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.”
As a resident of North Miami Beach, I am urging the Commission to vote AGAINST this Resolution for a number of reasons, as delineated below:
1. This Resolution is being introduced specifically to target North Miami Beach. and no other city in Miami-Dade County which has its own utility.
2. North Miami Beach is specifically being targeted and attacked by Commissioner Jordan, who resides in the City of Miami Gardens, which city is a customer of North Miami Beach’s water utility.
3. A similar bill was introduced in the Florida House by Representative Barbara Watson, who also resides in the City of Miami Gardens, which House Bill 411 DIED IN COMMITTEE.
4. This proposed Resolution by the Miami-Dade County Commission is prejudicial in nature in that, along with the failed House Bill 411, it specifically targets and attacks only the City of North Miami Beach and no other city in Miami-Dade County or within the State of Florida.
5. The water utility belonging to the City of North Miami Beach was built by the tax dollars of the residents of North Miami Beach.
6. The taxpayers of North Miami Beach still owe bonds IN EXCESS OF SEVENTY MILLION DOLLARS, which we are paying out of our property taxes.
7. Should this Resolution pass, and should the Florida Legislature again attempt to pass a bill similar to the FAILED House Bill 411, the City of North Miami Beach will be forced to charge additional water fees to the taxpaying residents of North Miami Beach to make up for the lost revenue of our water department.
8. The proposed Resolution, as well as the FAILED House Bill 411, is nothing more than an attempt to force the residents of the City of North Miami Beach to pay even more fees, under the false premise that the residents of Miami Gardens are being subject to “taxation without representation.”
9. The passage of this Resolution contemplated by the Miami-Dade County Commission will result in punitive measures against the taxpaying residents of the City of North Miami Beach, who will then suffer REAL AND ACTUAL taxation without representation.
As a result of the above, I strongly urge the Miami-Dade County Commission to vote AGAINST this Resolution.
Very truly yours,
Stephanie Kienzle
North Miami Beach, Florida
I don’t understand. Do other cities pay taxes to NMB? This lady needs to explain how she thinks they can get a free ride from our water plant. I wonder if she knows the lady who recently was the “winner” of the State Representative race against John Julien?
She not only knows Barbara Watson, but I’m told they are neighbors in Miami Gardens, along with our Congresscritter Frederica Wilson. They are such good friends, in fact, they all hired the same ballot broker for their most recent campaigns. They all obviously have a bone to pick with North Miami Beach.
People who bitch about John Patrick Julien should be careful what they wish for. Or, in this case, what they vote for. Should Barbara Watson be declared the eventual “winner” of that race, I suspect that Watson will do whatever she can to screw NMB out of more and more of our resources, and make sure that Miami Gardens benefits.
You mark my words. Those of us in House District 107 residing in North Miami Beach are no longer represented at the state level. And with Watson’s girlfriend as our Congresscritter, you can bet we won’t get any help at the federal level, either. (Think FEMA. Just saying.) Hopefully, we won’t need it.
If this passes, can the city just stop providing water to the municipalities? This isn’t a tax, but a usage fee to cover the costs of supplying water to the residents of the affected area. If there was a private utility supplying water, it would not be considered a tax, but a fee. I wonder if the City of NMB has had the city attorney look into this?
The Resolutions did pass with four votes against. I’ll find out more details and write about it.
In the meantime, I also thought of just telling the “outsiders” to get water from the county, although I have no idea if it could be done. Plus, NMB would lose that revenue, so I don’t know if it’s even feasible. You do realize that the county’s rates are going to skyrocket once all their infrastructure work is completed.
Another thing that should be done is that if Miami Gardens wants to benefit from our low water rates (thanks to the taxpayers of NMB!), they should take half our debt for the bond. If I were in charge, I’d tell Miami Gardens to give us a check for thirty five million dollars, cut the bond rate to NMB homeowners in half (for which Miami Gardens taxpayers would have to foot the bill in their property taxes), then we can all share the “wealth.” How does that sound?
Perhaps if our elected officials stopped pandering to Miami Gardens residents who come to our council meetings and complain about their water bills being to high due to our rates, but neglecting to disclose the fact that they have four illegal apartments behind their house. What is so hard about telling the facts to these residents? This is not rocket science, a high water bill is the result of USAGE not rates, but they just allow these liars to go on and on without disputing their charges until they eventually become the truth in people’s minds. When are we ever going to grow a pair?