"Your Taxes Will Go Up"

I hate those signs.  And with a vote not expected until 2015, we will all be looking at them for a very long time.*

[*2018 edit: it's years later, and those signs are still here!]  

Railing against taxes hasn't been as popular in America since tea was being thrown in the Boston harbor.  Taxes obviously pay for necessary services, but 100% of the people are never going to agree on the definition of "necessary."  Seniors, for example, may object to paying for schools if they don't have children (but will be sorry 10 years later when zombie skater punks crash through the front door).  And yuppies (is that still a thing?) might object to paying for libraries (also known as "the place where homeless people can use the internet").  And of course the tea party just wants to "drown government in a bathtub," but that's for another blog.

Today's discussion of taxes at the local level begins with the multi-colored "Real Estate Property Taxes" bill you receive every year in around October.  You must still have yours from last year, so go and get it (it's a blog... I can wait).  Then follow along.  C'mon. ... it'll be fun!

There are 5 sections of the bill:
Miami-Dade School Board appears in pink
State and Other appears in orange
Miami Dade County follows in blue [the focus of this post]
Municipal Governing Board is in green

Then there is a white box for "non-ad valorem assessments" where (if applicable) any special taxing districts, such as guard gate, roving patrol, other security, garbage service, etc. are reflected.

In Miami Dade County section, you will find these line items:
County Wide Operating
County Wide Debt Service
**Unincorporated Operating**  <-- focus!
Library District
Fire Rescue Operating
Fire Rescue Debt Service

In the geographical area under study by the Municipal Advisory Committee (the "MAC") - an area described and pictured in the first post entitled "Nomenclature" - the "Unincorporated Operating" millage rate is 1.9283.  This means that for every $1000 of assessed property value we pay $1.9283 (so a $100K assessment would result in being charged 100 x 1.9283, or $192.83).  All that other stuff isn't going to change - not even super-wealthy Aventura has its own Fire Department.

You can find a table of all the millage rates in Miami Dade County at: http://www.miamidade.gov/pa/library/2017-proposed-millage-chart.pdf. 

Rates range from a low of 1.7261 in Aventura to 9.7000 in Biscayne Park.  Also notable is North Miami Beach at 6.6036 (annexation by NMB is used as a "scare tactic" by the pro-incorporationists).  Our rate is the "Uninc. County" amount of 1.9283.

If "West of Aventura" became a new city (Village-At-Law, West Aventura, etc.), it would have a new millage rate, so the 1.9283 would change to "X".  The question is: will "X" equal the lower rate of 1.7261 Aventura pays (answer: no, we don't have the 3rd largest mall in the universe), or will it be closer to the 6.6036 paid in neighboring NMB.  The answer is "something in between."  Even Sunny Isles Beach (incorporated 1997) has a rate of 2.700, and they have more million-dollar condos than God (what do they do with all that money?).

The accounting gurus within a subcommittee of the MAC have cooked up a budget that results in a millage rate equal to the current 1.7261 rate, but as they say in securities prospectuses: "past performance is no guarantee of future results."

So let's make a worst-case scenario: let's assume the "new city" millage rate eventually matches NMB's rate of 6.6036.  How would our tax bills look in that event? 

Well, using a tax bill of a local celebrity (identity concealed) who has an "Unincorporated Operating" tax in 2013 of 274.63.  If the 1.7261 rate was increased in "new city" to the NMB rate of 6.6036, the "Unincorporated Operating" tax in 2013 would have been $940.50, which would be an increase of $665.87 - not chicken scratch by any means, but the net effect on the bottom line would be 19% - and this assumes a "worst case" millage rate equal to NMB (under the best case the increase would be 0%, so assume something in between).

Another example, taking another local celebrity, this time from the condominiums where all the "No to Incorporation" signs come from:

Remember in school when you learned that any number multiplied by "0" is "0".  Well, here is the practical application: No matter the millage rate, if you have a bunch of exemptions and a low-value property, you are not going to notice any difference at all.  So congrats, whiny condos: you get a shiny new city, more police, maybe even a bus service to the mall or bingo or whatever it is you do, and you don't owe uncle County one red cent next year, just like last year.  So stop printing all those damn "NO" signs that moan about taxes, and concentrate on the developers! 
 
Ok, one more celebrity: a more recent resident (like many people reading blogs), and from inside Highland Lakes (like most people who are attending meetings on incorporation).  As a more recent homebuyer, this taxpayer has a higher assessed value, because he/she/they didn't buy their home when it cost some multiple of the what the people who bought 30 years ago paid.

Whoooeee!  That's a tax bill that would make a person in the condominiums cry.  Total bill is $7,464, of which $656.21 is for "Unincorporated Operating" at the current millage of 1.7261.  So again, assuming a "worst case" rate of 6.6036, this taxpayer's rate in a new city would be $656/1.721 x 6.6036 = $2510, an increase of $1853, or about 25%!  See why the people on the "YES" to incorporation side use annexation by NMB as a scare-tactic?   

So the conclusion is: if there is a tax increase, it will be experienced disproportionally by (i) people who own homes in the NE, not condos in the SW, (ii) people who moved to the area recently, more than those who have lived here for decades, and (iii) people who want the very services they will have to pay for.  These are all generalizations of course, but I think they are fair ones, and to reiterate: these calculations are "worst case" and should not be anywhere CLOSE to the NMB milage rate.

I end the post with a math assignment.  Take the number from your last tax bill in the blue section called "Unincorporated Operating", then divide it by our current millage rate of 1.7261, then multiply it by whatever rate you think we will end up paying in the future (you can even choose your own rate from the table at the beginning of this post).  Then you can make an informed decision as to whether the benefits of incorporation are worth that extra price tag.  Let me know in the comments: (i) your assumptions (what the rate will be); (ii) how much more you end up paying, and (iii) whether you think the benefits exceed the cost, or vice versa.

Not interested in all the math?  Well, if we were annexed by Aventura, you could just put down your pencils because everything would be about the same.  

Unfortunately, as as will be explored in the next post, the County doesn't appear interested in having us pursue annexation discussions.  Analysis of the critical 2/27 county meeting on incorporation/annexation in the next TWO posts!

"Where do all these 'Vote NO on Incorproration' signs come from?"

It was a question that was asked on NextDoor  (like 'facebook' for neighborhoods), and it generated a lot of response.  The question led to the creation of this blog, because Nextdoor doesn't provide the best vehicle to post large quantities of information and graphics, and I think there is sufficient need for both to get a more complete picture of the issues.

This post explores the reasons NOT to incorporate, gathered from meetings of the MAC, AITF, on Nextdoor, and in conversations with "anti-incorporationists."

The forces of "NO" fall into 2 camps:

• people who are concerned with property tax increases.  These people are mainly homeowners, who have tax bills each year of several thousand dollars; and  
• people concerned with (in a word): "LIFESTYLE".  They don't want the area south of Skylake (south end of study area, with the condos) to become another mega-mall, casino or racetrack, and they believe this is a serious possibility if the area is no longer unincorporated.  This camp consists mainly of residents of the condominiums on the SW end of the study area here (the Moorings, Jade Winds, etc.)

The "2 camps of NO" were outlined by Stanley Jacobs, an octogenarian with thick-rimmed glasses and a baseball hat, who comes across as a bit of a fanatic at the public meetings when he rants about "eminent domain" (the public taking of private lands, for fair value, for public use).  It is true that there was a legal case in New London, Connecticut where a city abused this power, but that was an exceptional case, and the fear of eminent domain seemed to me like a sideshow every time Jacobs raised it. But I think his issues aren't really with "eminent domain" at all, because his concern isn't with property being taken for public use, but rather for private use (developers taking low-value condos and converting them into something new they can profit from). 

So there is a major misconception the "YES" camp doesn't appreciate: the "NO" organizers aren't really concerned with increased taxes at all - nor should they be, since most of the condos pay very little in taxes (if any), and would see very little impact even if millage rates increased.  They are concerned with survival, and I think the "NO" forces would be more effective if they abandoned the fear-mongering (taxation) and focused on their real concerns. 

That's not to say taxes couldn't possibly go up.  In fact, it's entirely possible, but if you live in a condominium with an assessed value of $50,000, a homestead exemption of $25,000 and an seniors' exemption of $25,000, it's just a fact that taxes are not an issue worth printing signs over.  This will be discussed in a future post: "The Real Impact of Incorporation on Taxes."

There are some other arguments made by the "NO" group, but none of them are as core as the "lifestyle and taxes" pillars of the movement. These secondary arguments are:

1. "the police are very responsive already" 

Since the bulk of the "NO" forces reside along the southern boundary, their response times may well be better than the homeowners on the northern end experience.  The fact is that there has been a rash of thefts in the study area, with one highly visible house having the tires stolen off a car in the driveway twice in a week!  The northern border with Broward county has proved porous, with criminals easily evading county jurisdiction with a hop of the fence.

At a meeting of the NE MAC (the group investigating viability of incorporation), Captain Mirtha Ramos (Miami-Dade Police Dept) explained that the study area (18,043 residents) is part of the larger Intracoastal Police District (105,980 residents - all the way down to 163rd street), and that a crime committed elsewhere in the Intracoastal district can result in all of our police being pulled away, leaving us completely unpoliced.  This is why seeing a black-and-white in our area is so rare.

Annexation by Aventura would certainly not diminish our police resources - they seem to have so many police they don't know what to do with them (4 cruisers per traffic violation, cameras at every corner).  Seems we could use some.

Incorporation would also not diminish our coverage.  Instead of having 5 or 6 "floating" officers, we would have 5 or 6 "dedicated" officers, who could not leave the new city if there was an emergency elsewhere.  So even with the "minimum" staffing required by MDPD, the net result would be more officers patrolling our area regularly. 

2. "I don't want more corrupt politicians" 
There are around 34 cities housed within Miami Dade county [source ], each with a mayor.  Of those 34 mayors, THREE were charged with criminal acts this past August.  As outlined in this article in the September 1, 2013 New York Times:

• Manuel L. Maroño, 41, the mayor of Sweetwater and president of the Florida League of Cities, and Michael A. Pizzi, 51, the Miami Lakes mayor, were picked by the FBI, accused by the United States attorney’s office  of involvement in kickback and bribery schemes concerning federal grants (August 6, 2013). 
• Steven C. Bateman, 58, the mayor of Homestead, was arrested, accused of accepting under-the-table payments from a health care company that sought to build a clinic in town, according to the attorney’s office for Miami-Dade County (August 28, 2013).

With so many attorneys in the "village-at-law", could corruption happen here?  Well, "never say never", but whether the corruption is downtown, or within walking distance, there's not much net difference. 

3. "Incorporation Creates an Extra Layer of Government"  This will be an issue for the Municipal Advisory Committee (MAC) to determine.  Of course there IS an "extra layer," (you can't have a city without another layer), but the real question is: are we paying for it, or are we just taking money that pays for government downtown and spending it locally?  

If the "extra layer" is merely having government closer to the governed, then I think the result would be in line with the view of US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who famously wrote "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants" - where better to see and critique our government than to have it within walking distance.




The core issue of taxation will get further analysis in a future post.

Commercial Tax Base "West of Aventura"

As we saw in the first post, Aventura has an absolute "embarrassment of riches" when it comes to tax base, and it shows no signs of slowing down, with plans to expand Aventura Mall even further being considered.  

How about us, "West of Aventura"?  One of the big arguments against incorporating is that the largely residential community lacks enough commercial tax base infrastructure to make a new city Viable.  In this post, I investigate.

The Shops at Skylake are within our proposed boundaries:

284,204 sf: major tenants include Publix, LA Fitness and McDonald's

At a meeting of the NE MAC it was disclosed that North Miami Beach may be working to annex the Shops at Skylake into ITS boundaries, giving the MAC a reason to move quickly to a vote on incorporation.  In my interview with a Senior Executive at Equity One (owner of the Shops at Skylake), this rumor was denied: Equity One is not aware of any efforts by NMB to annex the mall [this blog is independent of rhetoric from BOTH sides of the debate; independant, and focused on uncovering and publishing facts].


So that's one significant commercial presence in the area.  Not much, but there is more to come, and its already starting to happen on the undeveloped area next to the Railroad tracks on West Dixie Highway.  Here is what the area looks like today:

[source: Tri-Rail Coastal Link Station Area Opportunities Report, April 2013].

And here is what that area could look like in the future:

Development in that area has already begun, with a sign up (and a flyer in my mailbox) for the Beacon Tower:

Note that it says "coming soon to Aventura".

The tower is slated for construction right next to the Ives Dairy overpass to US1, as illustrated in this picture [source: www.beacontoweraventura.com]:

I am excited to see the former trailer parks potentially converted to a usable** commuter rail station and mixed use development, but I'm concerned that this development (and all the development to come) is happening without any input from those of us living here, "West of Aventura".   

So while my interviews of "anti-incorporation" residents is focused on saving homes and condominiums from re-development, I feel like the decisions being made NOW are happening without ANY input, by people in downtown Miami who have little concern for our thoughts and community.  More analysis of the "NO to incorporation" perspective in my next post.

**note: the current mass-transportation infrastructure in Miami is shameful, with tri-rail operating away from homes, and cargo trains rumbling through our neighborhood of residences day and night.  The result is a city completely dependent on cars, with the resulting pollution and emissions.  So yes, I do welcome a commuter rail station where commuters can actually USE it, and which will hopefully operate at sensible hours and not at all hours, which is the case presently.  If designed properly, the station could also alleviate congestion from workers at the mall, on our "arterial" roads including Ives Dairy, but as I say: development should have our input!

Why aren't we part of Aventura?

The title of the Blog and the first post beg the question: if we are defined by our proximity to Aventura, why not join them?

Apparently there was some attempt to be part of Aventura from its beginning (it was incorporated in 1995), but because 1995 was before my residency here, I can't go into much detail on that.  

In 2004 there was a first effort to become ANNEXED by Aventura.  "Annexed" means an existing city absorbs a neighboring area that is not itself incorporated.  Here's how that 2004 effort was described:

"In September 2004, the City of Aventura ("City") prepared an Annexation Feasibility Study of the North East Mac area to determine the fiscal feasibility of annexing the subject area.  The study was requested after representatives from the unincorporated area west of the City formally petitioned the City Commission in May 2004 to annex into the corporate boundaries of the City." 

[source: January 2008 Annexation Feasibility Study - Introduction]

The 2004 result?: Aventura declined the opportunity, concluding 

"the City would experience a significant negative fiscal impact on [its] budget if the Northeast MAC area were annexed to the City ... The first year deficit was projected to be $1,032,445, an amount that equaled to about 20% of the revenues anticipated from the annexed area.  The County Code relating to electric franchise and utility tax revenues adversely affected the revenue projections by $1,403,700.  Without overcoming those obstacles, it was not prudent from a financial standpoint to annex..."

[source: January 2008 Annexation Feasibility Study - Introduction]

This 2004 effort by our "West of Aventura" community was happening at the same time the area was investigating INCORPORATION (which means forming a NEW city where previously there was only unincorporated land).  The history of incorporation will be covered in another post.

So in 2004, Aventura says "no" to annexation, the County put a stop to new incorporations, and there was a kind of "identity limbo".  The limbo persisted into 2008, when the "West of Aventura" crowd, now led by Gloria Romero Roses (then President of the Sky Lake-Highland Lakes Area HOA) petitioned Aventura to once again consider Annexation.  One of her communications to Aventura is pictured below:

So what was the response in 2008?  Because there had been NO change at the county level when it came to electric franchise revenues and utility tax revenues, the answer (unsurprisingly) was still "No".  Below is the "conclusion" page of the 2008 report from Aventura:

The concluding paragraph reads "... if the County is not willing to make concessions relating to the City retaining electric franchise and utility tax revenues, this would adversely affected [sic] the revenue projections by $1,015,000.  Without overcoming these obstacles it would not be prudent from a financial standpoint to annex the area identified in the study."

So to sum up the annexation efforts:
2004: NO
2008: NO

Where do we stand today, in 2014?  Well, there is a meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 27th at 9:30 where the County Commissioners will actually be considering changes to County laws, including those relating to "electric franchise revenues" [Sec. 20-8.1] and "utility tax revenues" [Sec.20-8.2].

If this meeting leads to a change in these laws, there would be no financial impediment to Aventura incorporating our area, and they would likely consider annexation on the merits.  That's not to say they would be in 100% in favor of annexation, but at least there would be no financial barrier to doing so, as there was in 2004 and 2008.

Stay tuned.  These issues will be revisited in a later post, and probably many posts thereafter.

First Post: Nomenclature

no·men·cla·ture

ˈnōmənˌklāCHər/

noun: the devising or choosing of names for things, esp. in a science or other discipline.

Naming a blog is almost as hard as naming a city.  As seen in the map below, there are no real distinguishing geographical features.

• Like the entire state of Florida, it's flat.
• Like much of the coastal regions, it has some water features.
• And like the East half of the State, it's next to I-95

Here's what it looks like:

There are so many lawyers living here, it seems, that if it were a town it might be called "lawyerville", or maybe "village-at-law".

What really defines the community is its proximity to Aventura Mall, which wikipedia describes as 

"the largest conventional shopping mall in Florida, having a gross leasable area of 2,700,000 square feet (250,000 m²), and is the third largest shopping center in the United States. The mall has three floors of retail space, comprising more than 300 retailers. In addition there is a food court with eighteen fast food eateries, as well as several chains and other restaurants at the mall's entrance."

 

But you can't call a blog "West of Aventura Mall", so I settled on "West of Aventura".  That way, most people in the County who pass through our community (probably to go shopping) will know what area I'm referring to.

Our area (pictured in the image above) is, and for many years has been, investigating more localized government.  On this blog I will post on the history of this effort, what is going on today, and what may happen in the future.  I'll also post on events and news of interest. 

I've never created a blog before, and I may end up being the only person to read it, but giving some organization to the issues facing the community is never futile.  Hopefully there will be a mechanism for other residents to comment or contribute to the site - I welcome other contributions and feedback.