Will Miami Beach approve tax to help homeless? It’s one of eight questions on the ballot
Update: On Wednesday, after this story was first published, the Miami Beach City Commission voted 4-3 to rescind Referendum 8 on the 1% tax for homeless services. The decision means the results of that referendum will not count.
READ MORE: Miami Beach officials rescind ballot question on homeless tax. Votes on it won’t count
Original story:
Miami Beach voters will decide Nov. 5 whether to allow a 1% food and beverage tax to help fund services for the homeless and domestic violence victims, a tax that’s currently in effect in all but three cities in Miami-Dade County.
The referendum is the last of eight questions on the ballot in Miami Beach — and it’s the most controversial.
Homelessness has been a contentious topic in Miami Beach in recent months as police have ramped up arrests for sleeping outdoors and officials have debated the best approach to get people off the streets.
If Referendum 8 passes, the 1% tax would be collected on all food and beverage sales, with a few caveats. The tax would only apply at businesses that sell alcohol for on-premises consumption and that have gross annual receipts of more than $400,000. Facilities in hotels and motels would be exempt.
Those restrictions follow a Florida statute that allows for such food and beverage taxes. Until last year, cities that imposed their own municipal resort taxes — including Miami Beach, Bal Harbour and Surfside — were exempt from the homeless tax. But the state law was changed in 2023, and the Miami Beach City Commission voted last summer to authorize the 1% tax, subject to voter approval.
Bal Harbour voters will also weigh in on the tax in the November election.
If it passes in Miami Beach and Bal Harbour, the tax is expected to generate more than $10 million annually, according to Ron Book, the chair of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, the county’s lead agency for homeless services. Of that money, 85% would go to the Homeless Trust and 15% would go to domestic violence shelters.
Book, who has called for the creation of more permanent housing for the homeless, told the Miami Herald Editorial Board that the tax would generate enough money to get “everyone off the streets who’s willing to come off” in up to two years.
Officials in Miami Beach have sparred with Book over past requests for funding to help the Homeless Trust build housing. This summer, the City Commission voted to back out of a deal to contribute $2 million to the Homeless Trust, choosing to instead allocate the money to homeless services provided by the city.
An extra $10 million per year would be helpful toward addressing Miami-Dade’s affordable housing needs and come at a relatively low cost to locals, said Annie Lord, the executive director of nonprofit Miami Homes for All.
“We need money to pay for deeply affordable housing,” Lord said.
City commissioner fights against referendum
Support for the tax hasn’t been unanimous in Miami Beach. City Commissioner David Suarez has called it a “harmful tax hike disguised as help for the homeless,” decrying the exemption for restaurants in hotels and the proposed increase on the city’s already-steep taxes on food and beverages.
“Miami Beach families are already struggling with rising costs — this tax will only add to their pain,” Suarez wrote on social media.
On the City Commission agenda for Wednesday, Suarez has proposed items that would invalidate Referendum 8. His proposals include repealing an ordinance that would allow Miami-Dade to impose the 1% tax in Miami Beach, as well as a resolution to reverse the city’s approval of the ballot question and declare that any votes cast on the matter “will not count for its approval or rejection.”
The commission voted to place the item on the ballot in July 2023, before Suarez was elected last November.
Miami-Dade Deputy Supervisor of Elections Roberto Rodriguez told the Herald on Tuesday that, if the City Commission does vote to pull back the ballot question, the city would need to inform the Elections Department of the decision. The department would then post notices at polling places to inform voters that, although Referendum 8 appears on the ballot, the results will not count.
A political committee, Residents United to End Homelessness, has been advocating for the referendum’s passage. The group has raised more than $450,000, according to campaign finance reports, including $100,000 from nonprofit Chapman Partnership, which manages homeless assistance centers in Miami-Dade, and $100,000 from Lennar Corporation, a local home builder.
One of the committee’s recent mailers touted support from Miami Beach Commissioner Laura Dominguez, who called the Homeless Trust’s model “a proven system that has had success throughout Miami-Dade County and will be a critical part of keeping the unhoused off our streets here on the beach.”
Other ballot questions
The first seven Miami Beach ballot questions are revisions to the city charter. A review board is tasked with proposing updates to the charter every 10 years.
All eight ballot questions require a simple majority to pass.
REFERENDUM 1: This measure would expand the rights of residents under the city’s Citizens Bill of Rights. It would allow those who feel the Bill of Rights has been violated to seek enforcement through the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust rather than filing a lawsuit, which is currently the only option. The proposal would also expand rights to public records and restrict “unreasonable” postponements of pending matters before the city.
REFERENDUM 2: This item would remove a mandatory requirement for courts to consider removing elected officials or city employees from their positions for violating the Citizens Bill of Rights, saying a judge should first take into account whether the person has committed “repeated violations.” It would also clarify that removals from office should be subject to any collective bargaining agreement that applies to the official in question.
REFERENDUM 3: This referendum would require majority voter approval for the city’s sale or lease of public property for 10 years or more and for the vacating of public rights of way. It would also require competitive bidding for such sales or leases and a six-sevenths vote of the City Commission to approve management or concession agreements of 10 years or more.
REFERENDUM 4: This measure would increase the amount of time between the general election and runoff election in Miami Beach. Currently, runoff dates are two weeks after the November election. This item would move runoffs to about five weeks after the general election, on the second Tuesday of December.
REFERENDUM 5: This item has two prongs related to public hearings. The first would require two public hearings instead of one for most city ordinances, except in “emergency” situations. The second would allow the city to publish notices of proposed ordinances on a publicly accessible website rather than in a newspaper.
REFERENDUM 6: This question would require an election to fill vacancies on the City Commission if commissioners don’t appoint someone within 30 days of the vacancy. It would require a supermajority vote for such appointments.
REFERENDUM 7: This is a “housekeeping” measure, according to city officials, that would make several tweaks to charter language. One change would specify that candidates for office need to have lived in Miami Beach for at least one year “immediately” prior to qualifying.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 8:27 AM.
