Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Wednesday night that she would ask voters to approve a $2.5 billion borrowing plan tied to property taxes to fund sewer extensions, affordable housing and other long-term government projects.
In her final State of the County address of her first term, the mayor linked the bond referendum to the speech’s theme of boldness.
“We must braver and bolder than ever,” Levine Cava said in a speech she delivered at Zoo Miami before an audience of about 1,000 people. “I have never stuck to the status quo. And neither have the people of Miami-Dade.”
The announcement of a proposed “305 Future Ready” bond referendum thrusts Levine Cava into the sensitive issue of higher property taxes as the Democrat prepares to face voters in a non-partisan mayoral election in August.
Miami-Dade would pay back the borrowed $2.5 billion with an existing property tax that already pays down county debt. In passing the referendum, voters would authorize the tax rate to grow as Miami-Dade gradually borrows the $2.5 billion over multiple decades by selling bonds on Wall Street. Buyers of the bonds collect interest payments from the county, and those payments are generated through property taxes.