If the current trend
keeps up, Miami-Dade County will someday be completely incorporated.
Why?
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Voters want a say in local issues. In
Unincorporated Miami-Dade County there are already two levels of
government, local or countywide. Local decisions such as code
enforcement, local police patrols, maintaining roads and right-of-ways
are made by the county.
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Commissioners control local issues without being
elected by us. Our tax dollars are spent based on the decisions of
13 commissioners. Twelve of these commissioners are outside of the
Falls area, yet vote on local issues inside of the area.
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We don’t benefit 100% from our tax base.
We have a high tax base in the Falls area. According to
revised estimated
revenues & expenses prepared by Miami-Dade County,
$3,536,878 currently is used to serve areas outside our area.
This tax money should stay in the local area. The “Village of The
Falls” voters should decide locally how this money is spent.
This could be accomplished by attempting to “lobby” your Dade County
commission or by having your own elected “City” officials. Remember, our
commissioner has but one vote, she must convince at least 6 of the 12
others, to vote with her on local issues. We, as residents of her
district, have no influence over the other commissioners.
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Do nothing and remain unincorporated? Status
quo? This may not be possible under the present trend. The Village of
The Falls is an ideal community for another area to annex if they have
the ability to do so. Miami Dade County has a map of current
incorporated areas and proposed areas under consideration to be annexed
and incorporated. The area north of the airport is almost all
incorporated and there are areas in the south considering the same. If
we postpone we may not have the opportunity to decide are own destiny.
Here are recent
examples of incorporation - Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay.
We chose Pinecrest and
Palmetto Bay because they are not only very similar as mentioned below but
because they are areas well known to the residents of our area.
Comparisons to other cities in Miami Dade County can be made, but be sure
you are comparing like communities with like services.
These two neighboring
communities are similar in demographics and size. Pinecrest initially
lowered their tax millage rate and maintained that level for SIX
years, all the while increasing services to the local community. The
Pinecrest millage rate is currently at 2.400; that rate is below the
rate you pay today. The tax millage rate in Palmetto Bay is the same
as the millage rate in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, 2.447.
The Village of The Falls
boundaries were selected based on population size. The boundaries contain
about 21,846 people - which is more or less the same size as our neighbors
Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay. This size government will be more able to
encourage community participation, tailor services to fit community needs
and respond to community desires.
Will Taxes Go Up?
The most frequent argument heard is that taxes will go up. Property taxes
are composed of two items, millage and assessed value. In Pinecrest, the
millage rate went down with incorporation. Palmetto Bay has maintained
the same millage (tax) rate as the county and also has a budget surplus.
Please don’t take our word for it, go to the web sites for both
communities and verify the information by looking at their budgets.
http://pinecrest-fl.gov/manager/budget.pdf
http://www.palmettobay-fl.gov/documents/VPBBudget03-04.pdf
The other component of
property taxes is taxable assessed value. By state law, homestead assessed
property value cannot rise more than 3% or the CPI which ever is less. For
2004 this percentage was 2.4%. Your assessed value is evaluated by the
county, not the city. For the most part, the assessed value for homes in
this area has increased by the maximum allowable for the past several
years. If we incorporate, the homestead assessed values cannot increase
more than they have in the county.
The added cost of two
layers of government?
There will not be the cost
of two layers of government – the Village of The Falls will just be
putting the LOCAL government and LOCAL decisions at the
proper level of government - LOCAL. By creating a new municipal
government, we would substitute one big layer with a much smaller one.
Local government means greater responsiveness to the community it serves.
Please wait for all the information to be
made available.
The final choice will be
made by your vote, once all the facts are in. Two key ingredients
to the decision are necessary to determine if incorporation makes economic
sense (1) how much “mitigation” must be paid to the county and (2) how
much must be paid for the three year contract with the county for
providing police services. These amounts will be negotiated with the
county after which you will decide if it makes economic sense – you will
indicate your decision by your Vote.
On Jan 20, 2004 the Board
of County Commissioners passed a resolution, File Number:
040142, creating and establishing the Falls Area Financial
Responsibility Advisory Committee to negotiate a conceptual agreement
with the County, including the financial terms of items such as mitigation
and police services. The committee will also address other financial
concerns which would result from the proposed incorporation. Until the
proposed negotiation is completed we do not have the final numbers
described above. Please wait until all the financial information is
final before you decide if the Village will be financially viable.
The Financial “facts”
being circulated by those that do not want the facts to be known are
trying to scare you into believing that forming a city is not financially
feasible without raising taxes. Think about it. How can they know
without the final numbers being negotiated?
Many residents of the
community have spent a great deal of time and effort studying the facts.
We live in the Village of The Falls and are interested in what is best for
the area. We do want better services, but we don’t want higher taxes.
Keep up to date on the
facts – go to our web page at
www.villageofthefalls.info. If you cannot use the web call us at
(305) 255-2497 and leave a message. Send questions by e-mail to
info@villageofthefalls.info.