Ending the Fleecing of Taxpayers with Red Light Cameras

Excerpt from Miami Herald

"The mayor of Doral said Wednesday that he will submit to the city council a proposal to eliminate the cameras used to identify and fine traffic-light violators because he considers them an unnecessary mechanism for tax collection.

“These cameras have become a nightmare for the people of Doral,” Luigi Boria told El Nuevo Herald. “I believe these cameras are used to take money from the people, and we don’t need to continue to collect this type of indirect taxation.”

Do the right thing Homestead City Council and end Red Light Camera fines!

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/28/3475270/mayor-lets-end-red-light-cameras.html#storylink=cpy

Reference Article:
Mayor: Let’s end red-light cameras - Doral - MiamiHerald.com

Related Article:
South Florida cities with red light cameras scramble to meet deadline for traffic court

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/28/3476089/south-florida-cities-with-red.html#storylink=cpy

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Jackpot! East Side Annexation Area Includes FPL's Turkey Point

On Wednesday May 15th the City Council voted to conduct a study to possibly annex the Unincorporated Municipal Services Area (UMSA) east of the city up to Biscayne Bay using Biscayne Dr (SW 288th ST) and SW 352nd ST as the north and south boundaries respectively.  It appears from the map below that part of Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point land and it's northern surrounding property falls within the Homestead Annexation Study area. The facility itself appears to fall south of theoretical SW 352nd ST. If this is the case the tax boon will not be as lucrative but it's not chump change by any means. FPL also owns other large parcel of lands further north near the Homestead Air Force Base (AFB).  Essentially, FPL would be the largest land owner in the new annexed area and with this ownership comes the biggest tax bill.  One may suppose this is the primary  purpose for annexation never mind the reasons given about incorporating Homestead Bayfront Park. The money is in the millage rate charged for the land owned by FPL plain and simple.

There is a method to the madness down at City Hall because it didn't really make sense to annex an area outside the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) unless there was an immediate return on investment (ROI) for the effort.  Especially, since the city is running through reserves like a sailor on shore leave.  Surely, one could suggest the City Council is exhibiting foresight to incorporate areas for future growth, but historically that hasn't been the case.  Shotgun Houses, Baseball Stadium, Seminole Theatre, are but a few examples of the lack of this scarce skill set down at City Hall.  

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Homestead Council Approves Budget For FY 2012-2013

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

Homestead City Council members on Wednesday approved the 2012-2013 budget and a slightly lower tax rate.

The budget, which goes into effect Oct. 1, preserves city services and jobs and doesn’t touch reserves.

Council members approved a tax rate of $6.24 per thousand dollars of taxable property. That’s compared to a rate of $6.29 per taxable property in the current fiscal year. Under the new rate, the owner of a median home assessed at $77,500 and taking the standard homestead exemption would pay $172 in property tax to the city.

Whether a particular homeowner pays more or less tax will depend on whether their home’s taxable value has increased. Since the tax cut is less than 1 percent, a homeowner whose property value goes up by 3 percent actually would pay a little more in tax to the city.
 
Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/21/3013752/homestead-oks-new-city-budget.html#storylink=cpy

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County Commission Approves $6B Budget

$6 Billion Budget Approved in Miami-Dade

Mayor's plan approved, will close $400 million gap

By Julia Bagg

|  Friday, Sep 23, 2011 

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/6-Billion-Budget-Approved-in-Miami-Dade-130412143.html

After a late-night meeting that lasted from Thursday evening to Friday morning, Miami-Dade County commissioners finally approved a $6.12 billion budget for next year.

Commissioners got a late start on their debate, after hearing more than five hours of public comment beginning at 5 p.m., according to the Miami Herald.

Things didn't wrap up until after 3 a.m. Friday.

Under the plan, the county will close a $400 million budget gap in part by cutting more than 1,100 positions, some 500 of which are already vacant.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez's revised plan keeps a slimmer version of a popular "boot camp" alive for young offenders. It also keeps firefighters on water patrol.

Commissioners did get rid of a controversial tax rate hike that passed last year and approved Gimenez's plan to reduce the numbers of county departments from 42 to 25.

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Candidate For South Dade CDD (Waterstone) Uses Portofino Estates Landscape Company For Campaign Sign Placement

Candidate Maycol Enriquez is a Portofino Estates POA Board Member

The landscape company is contracted to Portofino Estates landscape maintenance.

Is the property manager Alton Madison aware of this?

In Waterstone instead of property maintenance the landscape crews do political work?

Would the South Dade CDD be subject to similar personal or political contractor tasks?

Trimmm Lawns & Landscaping

Miami, FL 33010
Phone: 305-223-2221

PORTOFINO ESTATES PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.

Filing Information

Document Number N03000002827 FEI/EIN Number 800063443 Date Filed 04/02/2003 State FL Status ACTIVE

Principal Address

C/O ALTON MADISON PROPERTY MANGEMENT 381 N KROME AVENUE #205 HOMESTEAD FL 33030

Changed 10/30/2006

Mailing Address

C/O ALTON MADISON PROPERTY MANGEMENT 381 N KROME AVENUE #205 HOMESTEAD FL 33030

Changed 04/24/2010

Registered Agent Name & Address

SKRLD, INC 201 ALHAMBRA CIRCLE SUITE 1102 CORAL GABLES FL 33134 US

Name Changed: 04/20/2008

Address Changed: 04/29/2007

Officer/Director Detail

Name & Address

Title TD

BARRERA, NOEL 4002 WATERSTONE WAY HOMESTEAD FL 33033

Title D

CAROTHERS, LAURI 4002 WATERSTONE WAY HOMESTEAD FL 33033

Title SD

SEILKOP, TIMOTHY 4002 WATERSTONE WAY HOMESTEAD FL 33033

Title VPD

ENRIGUEZ, MAYCOL 4002 WATERSTONE WAY HOMESTEAD FL 33033

Title PD

BARRERA, ABEL 4002 WATERSTONE WAY HOMESTEAD FL 33033

http://www.vote4enriquez.com/

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Homestead Tax Rate To Slightly Drop, Property Values Will Determine Higher or Lower Tax

Homestead residents can still comment on the budget at a hearing later this month

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/07/2989921/homestead-budget-has-no-tax-increase.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

 

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

George Gretsas, City Manager, pictured

Homestead City Council members on Tuesday tentatively approved a budget with slightly lower tax rate.

Under the proposed rate, residents would pay $6.24 per $1,000 of taxable property. That’s compared to a tax rate of $6.29 this year.

The tax rate and budget still need to be approved at a second public hearing before becoming final.

Under the new proposed rate, the owner of a median home assessed at $77,500 and taking the standard homestead exemption would pay $172 in property tax to the city.

Whether a particular homeowner pays more or less tax will depend on whether their home’s taxable value has increased. Since the tax cut is less than 1 percent, a homeowner whose property value goes up by 3 percent would pay a little more in tax to the city

Council members also gave the first OK for $38.8 million budget.

Homestead’s budget took another hit from tumbling home values. Home prices in the city decreased about 4 percent in 2011, according to the county property appraiser. Since 2008, Homestead has lost about 55 percent of its tax base, said City Manager George Gretsas.

“That would be a devastating impact on any community, but you’ve been able to hold the ship together,” he told council members.

Not only does Homestead face a shortfall, but costs are up, too. The city finds itself responsible for two facilities the police department was previously running using forfeiture money. The money, which is collected from criminals’ assets when the police help solve a crime, won’t be enough to run the Roby George and Phichol Williams parks this year. The Parks and Recreation department has more than $600,000 budgeted in the upcoming fiscal year for the facilities.

While the budget doesn’t tap into the city’s reserves, it does siphon off $2.25 million in profits from money-making funds such as electric services and solid waste. Homestead’s budget also counts on more than $9 million in “interfund transfers” this fiscal year. The reimbursements are for administrative work by city officials for the utility departments, Community Redevelopment Agency and Customer Services.

Gretsas repeated a familiar warning about the city’s finances: “There’s only so many years you can go,” with lower revenues, higher costs and a steady tax rate, he said.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/07/2989921/homestead-budget-has-no-tax-increase.html#storylink=cpy

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Homestead's Headache Stadium, Historical Perspective

 

 

Once a symbol of hope, Homestead’s baseball stadium has been a headache for city leaders ever since Hurricane Andrew struck, 20 years ago, on Aug. 24, 1992

 http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/23/v-fullstory/2965486/after-hurricane-andrew-homesteads.html#storylink=cpy

 

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

Homestead’s baseball stadium sports a fresh red-and-white paint job. Palm trees surround the small ball park, and a nearby lake glints in the Florida sun. Inside, the crack of a bat rings out as cheers erupt.

But the applause is far from a roar. The parking lot isn’t close to full and neither are the stands — about 200 of the stadium’s 6,500 seats are filled. The new paint covers crumbling and rusted posts and columns. The toilets don’t flush in the bathroom.

This stadium was supposed to be Homestead’s salvation. But that was 21 years ago, just before Hurricane Andrew made straight for the small town south of Miami, and nearly leveled the ball park. These days, the stadium that was supposed to be the city’s ticket out of the backwaters has come to stand for something else entirely: how Homestead has never fully recovered from Hurricane Andrew.

Andrew sent major league baseball packing. Though the city promptly rebuilt the stadium, attempts to sell or rent it always seemed to fall through. At one point, the city considered imploding the multi-story structure until that proved too expensive. Last summer, when the city finally thought it had found a stable tenant — a budding sports media company — the relationship soured, spawning two lawsuits.

In the two decades since Mother Nature stole its momentum, Homestead’s stadium has stood largely unused, a symbol of what could have been. Over the years, the city has paid about $6 million to keep it ready, on an increasingly slim hope: If you rebuild it, they will come.


TODAY

For years, Homestead’s pink elephant received only the most critical maintenance.

“We would just put rouge and lipstick on her every year, and fix her up the best we could so that we could continue to rent it out,” said Waldman, the current city council member, who has taken to calling the structure “my girl.”

But in 2011, the city thought salvation had come in the form of Miami lawyer John H. Ruiz and La Ley Sports. Ruiz had built a name for himself as a Spanish-language TV foreclosure lawyer. He was looking for a home for his latest business venture: a sports broadcasting and stats-gathering company. He bid on the stadium, offering to lease it at first and buy it in a matter of years, while promising at least $2 million in repairs in exchange for two years of free rent.

“The Homestead complex would kind of be like an ESPN Wide World of Sports,” Ruiz told the Herald at the time.

Waldman and the rest of the council were impressed, voting to hand the stadium over to Ruiz in July 2011.
Warned Waldman at the time: “She’s expensive.”

“I’m used to that,” Ruiz responded.

Progress came quickly — most notably when La Ley painted over the once-derided pink exterior with red-and-white. The field was restored, 169 frogs were removed from four feet of standing water in the dugouts and dead pigeons were scooped out of the long-dormant speakers, Ruiz said.

“The electric systems were not working properly. The plumbing was a disaster. The sprinkler systems in the field were not functioning. The grass was knee high. The suites were destroyed. The drop ceiling was falling all over the place,” Ruiz said. “So we had to redo the entire, entire, entire, entire thing.”

But Waldman’s earlier warning would soon ring true.

Ruiz’s company at first failed to carry property insurance — which had been so crucial after Hurricane Andrew — and then asked the city to drop his requirement in his lease to do so. The city refused, though Ruiz asked three times.

La Ley fell behind on its utility bills, and according to the city, still owes tens of thousands of dollars — even after it was found that the city had overbilled. Then the city found out Ruiz had sublet the stadium to a company that had underage ball players living in the locker rooms. The city, citing the sublease and a host of other issues, declared La Ley in default on its lease.

Ruiz filed two lawsuits against Homestead, leaving him in something of a standoff with city officials.

The stadium, meanwhile, seems stuck in limbo again. Though Ruiz has sunk millions of dollars into repairs, the white columns that mark the entrance are crumbling at the bottom, and a wall of translucent glass blocks is shattered. The ticket counters are shuttered for use as a broom closet. A media room with marble floors and granite countertops has a leaky roof and sagging, moldy ceiling tiles.

Ruiz is undeterred. He points to the summer tournament that draws a small, but steady crowd. He has plans for the land around the stadium — a hotel, football fields — and says he plans to broadcast sporting events to a world-wide audience from small city of Homestead.

He will not be one more person to walk away from Homestead’s stadium, he says.

“I’m a visionary, and I don’t give up,” Ruiz said. “Every day it gets better.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/23/v-fullstory/2965486/after-hurricane-andrew-homesteads.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/23/v-fullstory/2965486/after-hurricane-andrew-homesteads.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/23/v-fullstory/2965486/after-hurricane-andrew-homesteads.html#storylink=cpy

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