In North Miami Beach mayoral candidate Ray Marin’s last campaign email, he’s claiming that the city “sold off the operations resulting in increased water rates to you.”

THIS IS A BIG FAT LIE!

Here’s the truth:

The city did not sell off anything, much less the water utility. The administration decided to hire the world’s largest utility operators, Jacobs, to manage the operation of the water plant, which the city still owns.

Contrary to what Ray Marin (and several of the other candidates) would have you believe, the rate contracted with Jacobs is guaranteed for fifteen years.

If the cost of fuel goes up, Jacobs pays the difference.
If FPL raises its rates, Jacobs pays the difference.
If supply costs increase, Jacobs pays the difference.
If its employees receive raises, Jacobs pays the difference.
If employee health insurance premiums go up, Jacobs pays the difference.

In other words, the price contracted between the City of North Miami Beach and Jacobs IS LOCKED IN FOR FIFTEEN YEARS!

The second part of Ray Marin’s claim is that water rates are being increased.

THIS IS ALSO A BIG FAT LIE!

The rate for water is not increasing.

However, there is an 18% rate increase is for sewer charges that affects only 1,190 single family homes and 436 units at Marina Palms. This increase will not affect residences with septic tanks since they are not connected to the sewer system.

Why is an increase necessary?

Because of a screw up made by MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, NOT NORTH MIAMI BEACH!

We shall explain.

North Miami Beach does not have its own sewer processing plant. It merely collects sewage and pumps it over to Miami-Dade County. For many years, the County knew of a broken sewage meter connecting the NMB sewage line to its processing plant, but never fixed it. As a result, the County simply estimated the cost of the flow and billed North Miami Beach according to their estimates.

When the County finally replaced the broken meter in late 2017, and the new meter registered the actual flow, officials discovered they had grossly undercharged North Miami Beach for the sewage flow. The County legally had every right to turn around and bill North Miami Beach for five years’ worth of under-billing. For nearly a year, city officials and Jacobs management negotiated with the County, and finally reached an agreement that the County would write off the loss and bill the correct rates going forward.

In essence, the 18% rate increase HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH NORTH MIAMI BEACH OR JACOBS, but is 100% pass through from the County.

NEITHER NORTH MIAMI BEACH NOR JACOBS ARE GETTING A SINGLE PENNY FROM THIS INCREASE.

Here’s the rub. This increase was supposed to have gone into effect by this budget year. However, certain city officials, who obviously have their own agenda, sandbagged this process – MERE WEEKS BEFORE THE CITY ELECTION!

Obviously, for political reasons.

We repeat … IT IS COMPLETE FICTION THAT WATER RATES ARE INCREASING!

But that’s not stopping Ray Marin, as well as some of the other ill-informed candidates, from deliberately saying “water rates are increasing” as a SCARE TACTIC to get votes.

DON’T BUY THE LIE!

Even more ominous, forces inside the city administration are perpetuating this lie and purposely withholding information that would clear up this confusion.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

We’ve got more Truth Bombs in store about the city’s water utility that Ray Marin doesn’t want you to know about.

Stay tuned …

Stephanie