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taxing districts in Miami Beach. And they’re going to be entitled to a refund.
Just as importantly, why wouldn’t someone notice the problem after Year 1? After Year 2? Year 3?
“Because there is no control, that’s why,” said Commissioner Juan Zapata, who has formally 
asked the Inspector General to investigate the funds.
“It’s a scam perpetrated on the people.”
Zapata wants to know why so much of the $33 million in special taxing monies –somewhere around 40 percent, he said — goes to administrative fees. “They are subsidizing positions using the special district monies,” he told Ladra. “Almost half of the money going to special taxing districts is going to salaries.”
He has gotten very little in terms of an explanation from county employees.
“When you ask for accountability and transparency, they try to confuse you. I have people asking me ‘How do we know they’re not screwing us? How do we know we’re not paying for their mismanagement?’
Commissioners will discuss this mess at the meeting Tuesday, even though there won’t be a vote on it because of the failure to notice it properly in the newspaper and the providing of the wrong rate to more than 1,000 property owners (the mistakes keep on coming). Gimenez has requested that the commission continue the public hearing until September, which gives the county time to properly notice everybody.
Chairman Jean Monestime reportedly wants to wait until after an audit of all the special taxing districts is completed before the commission sets any new rates.
Smart. They might want to wait for the IG report also.
The mayor is asking for the commission to also approve the flat rate for the 834 
districts without increased assessments. But, again, how do we know they aren’t paying too much?
The mayor, in his memo, said he talked to the county attorney about possibly “phasing in” the increases that are to pay for past years’ arrears. But he was told that was not allowed. Furthermore, he said staff warned him that residents may end up owing more (huh?).
Some county employees and the mayor’s memo say that the problem stemmed from “past management and budgeting/accounting practices that have been and continue to be addressed. The people responsible have been replaced and the process has already been changed. The finance mechanism of the special taxing districts, for instance, have been moved to the finance department.
But does that really fix the general issue if the county was using a taxing district catch-all account to pay for who knows what else? And several employees, including some who were involved, told Ladra that this is a result of a definite “no new taxes” mandate handed down from the Gimenez administration that refuses to take responsibility for this arroz con mango.
Ladra hears they all the commissioners are upset. Zapata and Commissioners Barbara Jordan and Esteban Bovo had town hall meetings in their county districts to answer (barely) constituent questions.
Commissioner Xavier Suarez met with some of the affected constituents and 
says he left with more questions than answers.
“How someone didn’t notice that funds were not sufficient for the expenses is beyond comprehension,” said Suarez, who may be running against Gimenez in 2016 (we won’t know til October at the earliest).
“I’m enormously surprised that people didn’t notice the discrepancies earlier. It can’t be more complicated than condo management,” Suarez said, referring to monthly association fees collected from unit owners in condo and townhouse communities. “In fact, it’s less complicated because it’s purely operation. Condo associations have to have reserves. This is just money in and money out.
“I’m totally befuddled.
“The county must have been acting as a sort of global escrow agent, but not looking at the balancing on each account. But why? And how did that happen?”
Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado , who is definitely running against Gimenez in ’16,has also been talking to people about it. She expects to make comments at Tuesday’s meeting.
Read related story: Raquel Regalado’s message: ‘I can be a better mayor’
“The key thing is that this is yet another example of mismanagement
and a lack of transparency,” Regalado said, digging at the Gimenez campaign staple of his experience as a manager.
“Once again, we’re asking serious questions about the lack of management. Even attempts that were made to give explanation to the public have fallen short,” she said.
“The process didn’t work. The staff was incompetent. And the mayor didn’t know what was going on,” Regalado said. “How many times does it have to happen before it’s an indictment of not just the staff but of the administration?”
Maybe, depending on how much we find out about the co-mingled districts funds, this will be the last time.
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