Miami-Dade County to UMSA: Incorporation or Annexation

With the election of State Representative Juan C. Zapata to the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners (BCC) there will be a new drive to incorporate new cities and have existing cities annex areas adjacent to them.  Commissioner Zapata believes State Senators and Representatives can better represent municipalities directly versus going through county government.  Another reason:  Miami-Dade is in the process of spinning off the Unincorporated Municipal Services Area (UMSA).  The county will then be left to run the Airport, Seaport, County Fire and Police Departments, Water and Sewer Department just to name a few.

South Dade will  not be spared hence why the Homestead City Council held a Workshop to discuss the feasibility of annexing surrounding areas of UMSA, specifically Reland Edge and Leisure City. These areas have few options due to a limited tax base making incorporation a challenge. Even the tax base of Redland Edge and Leisure City combined isn't sufficient to support incorporation so that leaves the only viable option:  Annexation. In the near future these areas will get absorbed by newly created cities or annexed by Homestead because the status quo is unsustainable. The county has determined that it's simply too expensive to continue providing municipal services to these areas. With a $50M deficit this year alone the county will be putting the incorporation and annexation efforts in overdrive.  So unless Redland and Princeton incorporate soon and are willing to respectively accept Redland Edge and Leisure City, these areas may not have any other alternative than to allow annexation by the City of Homestead. The residents of these areas can choose one path or the other but they may not stay in UMSA forever.

Reference Links:

Miami-Dade lifts ban on new cities
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/04/03/miami-dade-commission-to-consider-lifting-ban-on-new-cities/

A case for incorporation

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/18/2851787/the-case-for-incorporation-in.html

Commissioner Jean Monestime supports increasing property taxes for UMSA
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/06/2988431/jean-monestime-proposed-county.html

Commissioner Juan Zapata supports incorporation of new cities (2 Links)

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/23/3360701/task-force-considers-creating.html

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2013/04/group-tackles-creation-of-new-miami-dade-cities.html

Commissioner Juan Zapata supports creating new city:  West Kendall
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/blog/morning-edition/2013/05/could-there-soon-be-a-city-of-west.html

Miami-Dade Current Annexation Proposals

Miami-Dade County - Management and Budget - Annexations

The Politics of Municipal Incorporation in South Florida
http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/landuse/vol122/lazega.pdf