Obscure board out to shift $95M from budget to expand Metrorail
The Miami-Dade board that oversees the county’s half-percent transportation tax has launched an unprecedented attempt to cut off a $95 million subsidy of bus and rail operations in order to save the money for new transit projects.
It would be the first time the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust exercised its power to try and block the county from subsidizing operating costs with a tax that was intended to pay for expanding public transit. The tax generates roughly $290 million a year.
“Let’s just stop them from doing this,” board member Evan Fancher said before the Thursday vote to withdraw authorization for the County Commission to spend the tax on operating subsidies. “Let’s move forward.”
The board’s vote wouldn’t take effect for a year, meaning the funding shift would start in 2020. Miami-Dade commissioners can override the vote, but may need a two-thirds majority to keep the subsidy intact.
Passed by voters in
2002, the “half-penny” tax was billed as a historic source of money for expanding transit — including more bus routes and new rail corridors extending farther into the Miami suburbs and across Biscayne Bay to Miami Beach. Rules the County Commission attached to the new tax did allow it to subsidize operations, but only for new transit projects built by the tax.
Aside from a three-mile Metrorail extension to the airport, the large transit projects that were promised have largely failed to materialize. During a budget crisis brought on by the housing crash, the transit board in 2009 voted to lift the rule barring use of the transportation tax for existing transit operations.
“It was an emergency. There were tough times.
outside her underwear.
Accuser No. 4 said Falzone “would ask her if she was OK and she would respond, ‘Yes,’ because she was afraid to tell him that he made her feel uncomfortable and wanted him to stop. She also advised that she would see him hug other students and go to the rear of the class with them, but did not know if they also felt uncomfortable. The defendant would whisper to her that he loved her and that he would take care of her.”
She also told BSO investigators that “after she discovered that the defendant had been arrested, she decided to tell her mom what had occurred during the previous school year. It should be noted that the defendant wrote a song about the victim and would play it for her in class sometimes.”
The affidavit says Falzone was asked Thursday whether the Renaissance Center accusers were lying about how he allegedly touched them. He refused to talk without an attorney present.
On Friday, a second Renaissance Charter student filed a $5 million lawsuit against the school, alleging negligence and Title IX education violations. All three lawsuits involving Falzone — the two against Renaissance Charter and the one against Broward County Public Schools from a former Sheridan Hills parent — are being handled by attorney Jeff Herman’s Boca Raton firm, Herman Law.
The suits accuse Renaissance Charter, Principal Jacob Goldberg in particular, of failing to protect the students after hearing the concerns of a “room mother” assigned to Falzone’s class. The mother, whose child is not among the accusers, Herman said, had her child removed from Falzone’s class around Thanksgiving.
In an emailed statement, Renaissance Charter spokeswoman Colleen Reynolds said, “Our highest priority is the safety and security of our students. Every employee goes through a background check before they are hired and are only hired if they receive a clear report. When we were made aware of the allegations and arrest, we took prompt action and terminated the employee. Due to privacy issues, we are not at liberty to discuss any issues regarding students or personnel.”
The statement continued, “We are saddened by someone like Mr. Herman whose background shows that he tries to exploit school districts and charter schools for financial gain. We did not receive the lawsuit until late Thursday afternoon. If this was just about victims, a reasonable attorney would advise the school before making public unsubstantiated allegations against the good works of schools or the good name of a principal.”