Mayor Carlos Gimenez has new plan to finance the planned SkyRise Miami observation tower on Biscayne Bay, as well as the 20th Century Fox theme park at Zoo Miami. And the plan could leave Miami-Dade residents stuck with a higher property tax bill.
The mayor revealed his bid to subsidize the for-profit projects yesterday, abandoning a controversial plan to give $5 million economic-development grants to several smaller projects, according to the Miami Herald.
“What prompted the change is we need to go back to the original intent,” Gimenez said. “These projects we have right now … they’re good projects, but they’re not really game-changing projects.”
In 2004’s Building Better Communities ballot initiative, voters authorized Miami-Dade to borrow nearly $3 billion for dozens of projects. That allows the county to charge a special property tax to pay back the bond debt. [Miami Herald] – Christopher Cameron