Miami-Dade Referendum 4: What the Charter Question on Tuesday's Ballot Would Change
Referendum 4 reads like housekeeping - and mostly is - but the Miami-Dade charter question also writes the restored sheriff, tax collector and elections offices into the charter and redraws who writes the budget and who keeps the books.
Nearly two years after Miami-Dade voters elected a sheriff, a tax collector, a property appraiser and a supervisor of elections, the county's Home Rule Charter still says the Office of Sheriff is abolished and its powers belong to the mayor, according to a Miami Patriot analysis of the measure published Oct. 31 and read in full by the Politics Desk. County Referendum 4, on the ballot Tuesday, Nov. 3, is the fix.
The background, as the analysis lays it out: Florida voters approved Amendment 10 in 2018, barring county charters from abolishing those constitutional offices or making them appointed posts. Miami-Dade restored the offices on Jan. 7, 2025, but its charter text did not follow. A Charter Review Task Force created by the County Commission in March 2024 under Resolution R-225-24 voted 10-0 to send the cleanup to voters, and unlike the three statewide amendments, which need 60 percent, Referendum 4 passes with a simple majority.
Beyond the titles, the measure replaces the old finance department arrangement with a budget department and makes the mayor the County Budget Officer, moves property-tax collection to the Tax Collector in accordance with state law, adds the words 'as permitted by law' to the Commission Auditor's and Inspector General's audit powers, and extends the leave-of-absence rule for county employees running for office to the constitutional offices, according to the same analysis. It also notes Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz is already appealing a budget dispute with the county to the Governor and Cabinet. Early voting in Miami-Dade ends Sunday, Nov. 1, and polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
