Miami Beach officials rescind ballot question on homeless tax. Votes on it won’t count
The Miami Beach City Commission voted Wednesday to rescind a question on the November ballot on whether to authorize a 1% food and beverage tax for homeless and domestic violence services, meaning votes on the measure and the results of the referendum won’t count.
The vote was 4-3 to pull back the measure, with Mayor Steven Meiner casting the decisive vote.
Meiner said he was “not pleased” to rescind the item with less than a week before the Nov. 5 election and after more than 20,000 Miami Beach residents have already cast their ballots. But he said he staunchly opposes the sales tax, which would have generated an estimated $10 million annually for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust and local domestic violence centers.
“I do not believe this is in the best interest of our city,” Meiner said of the tax.
Ballots have already been printed, meaning Referendum 8 will still appear. But notices will be placed at polling places to inform voters that the results won’t count.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade Deputy Supervisor of Elections Roberto Rodriguez told the Miami Herald that, if the City Commission voted to pull back the ballot question, the city would need to first inform the Elections Department of the decision, then the department would post the notices inside voting booths.
Commissioners David Suarez, Kristen Rosen Gonzalez and Joseph Magazine voted with Meiner to rescind the question. Suarez proposed the move, saying the referendum was “purposely engineered to mislead and take advantage of taxpayer money.”
“It aims to transfer wealth from Miami Beach taxpayers to an unelected county organization,” Suarez said. “This vote is a manipulation.”
Reached by phone after Wednesday’s commission vote, Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust Chairman Ron Book said the organization is “exploring all options” to try to keep the referendum on the ballot.
“There were many unanswered questions, misstatements of facts and information that was totally ignored” at the commission meeting, Book said. Funding from the tax, he said, would go toward moving homeless people from Miami Beach “into permanent, supportive housing.”
The City Commission voted in July 2023 to place the 1% tax on the ballot. But several commissioners — including Suarez, who was elected last November — said Wednesday that they were unaware of it until last month.
Meiner and Rosen Gonzalez were the only two commissioners last July to vote against putting the referendum on the ballot.
READ MORE: Will Miami Beach approve tax to help homeless? It’s one of eight questions on the ballot
Meiner said the city would not have control of the funds collected through the tax and emphasized that Miami Beach is already spending millions of dollars on services for people experiencing homelessness. The mayor has advocated for strict enforcement of a camping ban to get homeless people off the street.
Several officials also pointed out that food and beverage taxes are already high in Miami Beach — 9% between the base sales tax and a resort tax in the city.
“More taxes will not end homelessness,” Suarez said.
Commissioners Tanya Katzoff Bhatt, Laura Dominguez and Alex Fernandez called for keeping the ballot question in place, saying the city shouldn’t invalidate voters’ decisions. Bhatt called it an “unholy, terrible precedent to set.”
Fernandez said he shared some of his colleagues’ concerns about the messaging of a political committee that’s endorsing the ballot measure. But he said he believes “homelessness is a regional issue,” and that the proposed tax would go toward creating needed housing.
“We’re not leading with compassion if we’re not creating avenues for housing,” Fernandez said. “I think we are sticking our head in the sand if we think we will arrest our way out of homelessness.”
If the referendum had passed, the 1% tax would have been collected on all food and beverage sales at businesses that sell alcohol for on-premises consumption and have gross annual receipts above $400,000. Facilities in hotels and motels would have been exempt.
Those restrictions follow a Florida statute that allows for such food and beverage taxes to be levied. 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 weigh in on the tax in the Nov. 5 election.
Some of the debate Wednesday centered on the merits of the Homeless Trust, which relies on the food and beverage tax to fund its efforts and promotes a housing-centered approach to addressing homelessness.
Suarez said he disagrees with the organization’s approach and feels the group lacks in transparency. He also noted that developers were among the biggest donors to a political committee supporting the ballot measure.
“This is all about a return on investment,” he said. “It’s a money grab.”
Dominguez, who supported the referendum, disagreed, calling the Homeless Trust an “honest organization.”
Meiner said he didn’t like that some of the “same players involved in the Homeless Trust” who have criticized the city’s arrests of homeless people were the ones asking Miami Beach voters to approve the sales tax.
“We’re spending millions to help the homeless,” he said.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 11:51 AM.
