You have further indicated that you have reached this decision as a result of information provided to you by the Miami-Dade County 'staff,' a bureaucracy that has every reason to want to maintain the status quo.

I challenge each of you to consider the following facts, use your knowledge and common sense, verify my assertions and see if you do not agree that your decision may have been formed as a result of inaccurate or misleading information. As to whether this misinformation has been produced intentionally or due to incompetence, I will leave that to your judgement.

Fact #1 -- Approximately 45% of the county's budget comes from ad valorem or property taxes. The remaining 55% of the budget is based on revenue sharing of various taxes by population.

Some of these revenue sources are utility taxes, sales taxes, cigarette taxes, cable franchise fees, electric franchise fees etc.

Fact #2 -- A new municipality does not start collecting property taxes until the November following the first January after incorporation. Pinecrest for example, became a Village on March 12, 1996, but did not collect any property tax until November of 1997, some 20 months after incorporation.

How does the County lose the ability to service the UMSA area if it continues to collect property taxes for 11 to 23 months after an area incorporates? Moreover, you are well aware that if the County provides any municipal services after incorporation the new municipality must pay for those services, even though they are not yet collecting their property taxes. In effect, the County collects twice.

Fact #3 -- At the East Kendall incorporation meeting I asked Dr. Chuck Blowers -- Chief of Research for the Miami-Dade County Office of Planning, Development and Research -- why the county staff continued to grow every year, in spite of four municipal incorporations and several annexations, which reduced the size of the UMSA? He advised that, except for the year of Hurricane Andrew, there had been a NET increase in the population of unincorporated Miami-Dade every year during the nineties. Since 55 percent of the budget is based on revenue sharing by population, how does the County lose the ability to provide services if the NET population of unincorporated Miami-Dade increases despite annexations or incorporations?

Fact #4 -- If the population of UMSA is increasing enough to offset incorporations or annexation, the taxes on new developments are providing additional revenue; therefore, there can be no loss of ability to provide services. There is another major consideration that 'staff' fails to acknowledge. For example, Pinecrest currently has a tax base of approximately $1.7 billion -- an increase of almost 50 percent from the approximate $1.2 billion tax base at the time of incorporation. The County is getting 91 percent of the increase in taxes from the greatly expanded tax base. Pinecrest is a mature area with little of the growth in its tax base being generated by new development; rather, such growth is from the increase in property values as a result of the improved quality of life in Pinecrest.

Fact #5 -- Pro incorporation forces say that, at worst, following incorporation only nine percent of the total tax bill would be lost to the County if they were permitted to incorporate, not the full tax bill as 'staff' insinuates. This ignores the likelihood that the tax base in an incorporated area will grow, potentially resulting in more tax dollars paid to the County. To this, Dr. Barbara Falsey, of the Office of Planning, Development and Research, frequently replies that it may only be nine percent of the budget, but it is 100 percent of the funding for municipal services for the area being discussed. Incorporation groups reply that since the County is keeping their property taxes and is no longer paying for municipal services, and as these services must be paid for by the new municipality, how can the County claim it is suffering a loss?

Hopefully, after your due diligence and reconsideration you will be able to support incorporation.

Thank you in advance for your consideration and your anticipated response.

Sincerely,
Warren Lovely