Miami Voters: a $450 Million Bond, a Watchdog Committee, and a 45-Year Virginia Key Marina Lease
Below the governor and the Senate, voters inside the City of Miami get three questions of their own on Tuesday: borrow $450 million for police and fire facilities, create a permanent committee to watch the bond money, and lease the Rickenbacker and Marine Stadium marinas on Virginia Key for up to 75 years.
Every Miami-Dade ballot on Tuesday is long. The ballot inside the City of Miami is longer, and its last three questions are the city's own. Referendum 1, titled Safe and Ready Miami, asks voters to authorize $450 million in general obligation bonds to renovate, modernize and build police and fire-rescue facilities, including a new public-safety headquarters to replace the city's roughly 50-year-old downtown police building — payable from property taxes with, the ballot states, no increase to the current capital projects debt millage rate of 0.5935, and an independent annual audit. Fire-rescue leaders backing the measure cite response times above six minutes, and sometimes eight, in parts of the city. Commissioner Damian Pardo opposes it, arguing the work can be accomplished without a general obligation bond; the commission voted 3-2 on July 9 to send the question to November. It needs a simple majority.
Referendum 2 is the watchdog that would come with the money: a charter amendment creating a permanent advisory General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee to monitor and publicly report the status, cost, timeline and remaining funds of every project paid for with city bond money. Referendum 3 is the waterfront. It asks whether the city may lease about 27.5 acres on Virginia Key to Virginia Key, LLC for a 45-year initial term with two possible 15-year renewals — potentially 75 years in all — at a minimum annual guaranteed rent of $2.2 million with escalations (about $204 million over the initial term) plus 6 percent of gross revenues, in exchange for roughly $80 million in private investment to redevelop the Rickenbacker and Marine Stadium marinas, including boat storage, restaurants, retail and public parking.
Only voters who live inside the City of Miami see these three questions — Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Doral and the county's other cities have their own. They sit beneath the governor's race, the Senate race, three state constitutional amendments, six county charter questions and a school-tax renewal on the same ballot, which is exactly why they are easy to reach unprepared. The polls are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at assigned precincts. The bond, the watchdog and the marinas will be decided by whoever reads to the end of the ballot.
