Miami-Dade County taxpayers on Tuesday voted heavily in favor of continuing to pay for a broad spectrum of children's programs benefitting tens of thousands of kids every year.

Voters permanently renewed The Children's Trust, which generates about $100 million a year for after-school and summer camps, health education and a 24-hour hot line for parent counseling.

''Voters -- in overwhelming numbers from every corner of our community -- have given a great gift to the children of this generation and generations to come,'' David Lawrence Jr., chairman of The Children's Trust executive board, said Tuesday night at a victory party at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

Miami-Dade residents first approved the trust in 2002 on a temporary, five-year basis. The pilot program was set to expire this year unless voters reauthorized it.

County homeowners pay about 50 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value toward the trust -- a total of about $61 a year for typical, median-value homeowners.

The taxes collected by the special district and grants help pay for more than 300 programs and agencies dedicated to children, and the trust spends 92 cents of every dollar it receives on services, not administrative costs.

The Children's Trust aims to help as many Miami-Dade kids as possible, Lawrence said. Its programs' goals range from raising health awareness and teaching nonviolence to promoting the arts and homing students' job skills.

The trust also operates the 211 Helpline, a 24-hour switchboard that connects parents and kids with services they need.

Lawrence said the trust is pursuing a new program that will put nurses in every Miami-Dade school by 2011.

Several big-name Floridians supported The Children's Trust renewal campaign in recent weeks.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush recorded a 30-second commercial in Spanish that aired in South Florida, urging Miami-Dade residents to vote for the measure. Other boosters included Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning, both Democratic and Republican state lawmakers and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez.

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