Debate: Millage rates in Miami-Dade County

Realtors and business groups in Florida are squaring off against big labor unions and Florida League of Cities in an attempt to pass a property tax cut amendment in the Sunshine state. Commenting on Unions stand against property cuts Warner Todd Huston on November 30th, 2007 wrote in Blogger News Network in an article titled Unions Trying to Force Higher Property Taxes in Florida "it (tax cuts) might cause cities and schools to cut some deadwood jobs and that means union jobs cut.

In other words, to save union jobs in our bloated local governments and to save the jobs in failing schools, unions are trying to INCREASE taxes on EVERYONE. Once again, unions prove how much they are out to help “the little guy.” This time by trying to tax him out of his home."

Our tax dollars will be used to hire a lobbyist to fight the proposed property tax reform. Tax dollars paid to municipalities in Miami and throughout the state of Florida pay dues to the Florida League of Cities, a lobbying group that will fight the proposed reduction in our property tax.

On November 22nd we published an article criticizing the decision by the Florida League of Cities to fight the $12 billion property tax-relief package in the article titled Florida League of Cities decision stinks  we opined that for the cities to mount a campaign to defeat tax relief for the very citizens they supposedly serve is inappropriate. Taxpayers’ own money should not be used without their approval to persuade people to vote for or against a tax measure.

Responding to the article Ernie Martinez, a Cutler Bay resident and community leader responded by saying "In Cutler Bay, revenues are up approximately 30% due to the new houses and increased values.  Cutler Bay is mistaken in being proud that it is exempt from the tax decrease and refuse to provide tax relief.  At the same time, the budget has increased substantially.
These are hidden tax increases due to the increased assessments.  What we need is lean government." We also did an analysis of different millage rates of municipalities in Miami Dade County to find that Aventura was the cheapest in terms of taxes in the County. In the article Aventura cheapest in Miami Dade County we also noted that while Cutler Bay charges a millage rate of 2.447 while neighboring Palmetto Bay brought down its millage rate by -3% from 2.447 in 2005 to 2.3736 in 2006 and Pinecrest that did not reduce its millage rate charges a steady 2.4.

Cutler Bay Council member Peggy Bell responded with the following:

"To be fair, please remember that Palmetto Bay had the higher tax rate for 5 years, during which time they were able to purchase parks, street signs and provide many amenities. In addition, the taxable value of their homes is much higher than Cutler Bay’s. Pinecrest has property valued at $600,000 to several million. Each 2.4 mill is multiplied by one thousand. The result is much higher taxes. We must compare apples with apples.

Our town is less than two years old. I hope to be able to reduce our tax rate in the future.
 
Thank you,
Peggy Bell
Councilmember
Town of Cutler Bay"

Cutler Bay Town Manager lobbied the State legislature and succeeded in getting new municipalities, such as Cutler Bay, exemption from the millage limitations included in the legislation for a varying period of time -- up to five years depending on when the city began levying taxes. The amendment was initiated by Rep. Julio Robaina.

In an article titled Tax trims to cut at heart of services published in the Miami Herald on July 1st of this year Steven Alexander said "Services in Cutler Bay will be severely impacted if the constitutional amendment passes in January. We are operating with a very efficient but embryonic staff at this point in our growth as a town; however, future expenditures for the provision of services remain uncertain.

Any cut at this point in our path toward becoming a mature and resilient provider of locally directed services will significantly impact our ability to deliver the basic services our residents voted for when they chose to incorporate and which they fully deserve.

Homeowners may well become alarmed when there is a noticeable change in fire service, libraries, road maintenance and other services supplied to the town by Miami-Dade County."

In response to the article on the comparison of millage rates McHenry Hamilton a CPA and Cutler Bay resident made two points.
McHenry Hamilton said "The property taxes that are a result of the application of the municipal millage rate to the taxable assessed values constitute only 28-35% of the gross revenues of a city. The remaining revenues such as franchise fees, utility taxes, communication taxes, and sales taxes from the State of Florida through revenue sharing are basically divided on a per capita basis so that the cities of Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, and Cutler Bay receive the same amount of those taxes per capita. Therefore Cutler Bay is much closer to the other cities when total revenues are compared to the other cities, and therefore Cutler Bay will be able to afford the parks, police, street signs etc that the other cities have without having to greatly increase its millage rate.

I am very proud of the job that Peggy Bell and the Mayor and other council members have done in Cutler Bay. I just wish my old friend John Cosgrove was still around to participate in the cities development.

When comparing the millage rates of the cities in Miami-Dade County you should compare apples to apples as council woman Bell pointed out. There are a number of cities that have their own fire departments, Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Coral Gables, and you have to include Key Biscayne because they do not use County fire but contract with the City of Miami for backup services. All these cities include the cost of their fire departments in their millage rates and the other cities have a separate millage rate the taxpayers pay to the County for fire services. So to compare millage rates you must reduce the millage rate of the cities named above for the cost of their fire departments. I did this several years ago and it is Key Biscayne not Aventura that has the lowest millage rate when the cost of fire services is included in the calculation."