Biscayne Gardens residents reject forming own government in Miami-Dade
Residents of the Biscayne Gardens area rejected forming a new local government — defeating Tuesday’s referendum to create Miami-Dade’s 35th municipality and break away from county control of municipal decisions.
With eight of the nine precincts reporting, the incorporation vote was heading toward an overwhelming defeat with more than 80% voting against the referendum to form a new village.
About 35,000 people live in the area between Miami Gardens and North Miami, a community that’s divided by Interstate 95 and home to the Golden Glades interchange. The roughly 18,000 registered voters in the potential municipality were asked to approve the incorporation proposal sent to referendum by county commissioners in September. Fewer than 3,500 votes were recorded in the results posted shortly after 8 p.m.
The loss amplifies the uphill task for incorporation efforts in Miami-Dade — where the last new government arrived in 2005 when voters in South
Dade formed the town of Cutler Bay.
Backers of the incorporation campaign pitched it as a way to fend off potential annexation bids by surrounding municipalities and shift local decisions on zoning, infrastructure and public safety to local control. The proposed municipality sits between four cities: Miami Gardens to the northwest, North Miami Beach to the north, North Miami to the east and south and Opa-locka to the west.
While local voters decide referendum decisions, county commissioners retain authority over annexation requests from municipal governments.
Opponents of forming Biscayne Gardens focused on the higher property taxes that typically come with a new local government. County forecasts show the municipal property-tax rate would double in the new village of Biscayne Gardens, to $4 per $1,000 of taxable value from the less than $2 Miami-Dade charges areas outside city limits for municipal services. (The total tax rate, covering schools and county services, would increase about 12%.)
Bernard Jennings, who helped lead an incorporation effort that traces back
I AM NERVOUS ABOUT THE TAXES. I AM WORRIED ABOUT THE SERVICES THEY WILL PROVIDE US FOR THE COST. Alaine Ducasse, a taxi driver who voted against incorporating.
to a county study group formed in 2003, blamed the loss on uninformed fears over taxes.
“People were in fear their taxes would double,” said Jennings, president of the Biscayne Gardens Chamber of Commerce. “They didn’t have a chance to have a full understanding of the issue.”
Jennings said supporters of incorporation would try again — with hopes of reaching residents who didn’t vote.
The tax issue was a concern among voters at the Biscayne Gardens precinct at the Mount Olives Church of God during the overcast morning that greeted Election Day.
“I am nervous about the taxes,” said Alain Ducasse, a taxi driver who voted against incorporating. “I am worried about the services they will provide us for the cost.”
Elizabeth Judd said she voted in favor of incorporating. “We will become a beautiful city like all the other cities that are incorporated,” Judd said. “We will have the ability to spend that money on making our community better.”
Judd is 80 years old and has been living in Biscayne Gardens since 1993. She feels the anti-incorporation campaign has been misleading voters.
“They say it is a bad tax. It is not a bad tax,” she said. “When you are paying for keeping your property value up, that is not a bad tax, that is called being an American.”
Six demonstrators against incorporation at the church shouted “We can’t afford it” to voters.
“Nobody wants this, we are just fine the way we are,” said Bruce Lamberto, one of the lead organizers of the group demonstrating against incorporating. “We don’t need more politicians.”