With lingering questions, Miami delays vote on mayor’s $450M public safety bond
Miami officials are not ready to send a $450 million public safety infrastructure bond to the August primary ballot, halting an ambitious proposal from Mayor Eileen Higgins that has the backing of the city’s police and fire chiefs.
On Thursday, the City Commission punted the vote to next meeting, slated for May 14. The half-billion-dollar bond, championed by Higgins, seeks to repair the city’s aging public safety infrastructure, plagued by issues like mold and leaky roofs.
The bond requires voter approval. While the mayor secured support from Police Chief Manuel Morales and Miami Fire-Rescue Chief Robert Hevia, the City Commission is ultimately the gatekeeper in determining what lands on the ballot. As mayor, Higgins doesn’t have a vote on the five-member City Commission, though she can veto legislation and meet privately with commissioners to whip up votes.
With District 3 Commissioner Rolando Escalona signing on as a co-sponsor, Higgins needed support from two more commissioners to advance her proposal to the ballot. But on Thursday afternoon, the mayor announced that she would be deferring the item to the next meeting on May 14.
Speaking to the Miami Herald after the meeting, Higgins said it “became apparent throughout the day” that several commissioners had questions specifically relating to the $400 million Miami Forever Bond voters approved in 2017.
“And so it just makes sense to make sure that they get all of those questions answered,” Higgins said. “As far as I can tell, all of them are very enthusiastic about supporting the police and fire bond, but it just makes sense that they get to clarify all the facts around the Miami Forever Bond.”
The city attorney previously said May 22 is the deadline for sending referendums to the August primary ballot, meaning the commission would need to sign off on the bond at the next commission meeting, or call for a special meeting, to make that happen.
‘Improvised, rushed, irresponsible’
During a tour of the police department headquarters and various fire stations this week, Morales and Hevia showed the deteriorating conditions that include mold, leaks, patched-up floors and out-of-order plumbing.
While many residents who spoke at Thursday’s meeting agreed that the conditions are subpar and need attention, several criticized a bond as the funding mechanism.
Activist Thomas Kennedy called for a “full accounting” of the Miami Forever Bond spending and pointed to the proposal to eliminate property taxes across Florida that could have a major impact on the city’s revenue.
“It just seems really improvised, rushed, irresponsible, and not the right time both politically and economically for the city to take on this kind of debt,” Kennedy said.
Resident Elvis Cruz said the city of Miami “tries to use its own incompetence to justify continuing its own incompetence.”
“They call it ‘deferred maintenance,’ but that’s really a euphemism for irresponsible neglect,” Cruz said. “The city won’t do simple maintenance like change a shower pan, yet they want us to give them millions to demolish — then build — new buildings that they won’t maintain, either.”
Miami Fraternal Order of Police President Felix Del Rosario acknowledged Thursday that the issues are “not a surprise” and “nothing new.”
“The only question is whether the city is going to fix it,” Del Rosario said. “This is not about luxury. This is just about basic safe and functional working condition[s].”
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