After Miami Beach voters signaled their support last month for expanding the county’s homelessness and domestic violence tax, city commissioners voted Wednesday for Florida lawmakers to stop the 1% food and drink tax in Miami Beach. Restaurants.
Sales tax, introduced by lawmakers in 1993, is levied in restaurants in cities across Miami-Dade County, with the exception of those that already have a city tax, such as Miami Beach, Surfside, and Bal Harbor.
Miami Beach restaurants that serve alcohol and have annual sales of more than $ 400,000 would lose their tax exemptions if lawmakers voted to repeal them and Miami-Dade commissioners agreed to collect the tax.
The tax money would help fund the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust’s homeless initiatives and go into building and operating domestic violence shelters in the county. The tax would charge consumers $ 1 for every $ 100, with $ 0.85 going to homeless programs and $ 0.15 to domestic violence resources.
“Money helps solve these problems,” said Commissioner Ricky Arriola, who tried unsuccessfully in 2017 to extend the 1% tax to Miami Beach. “That will save lives.”
Kristen Rosen Gonzalez and Steven Meiner were the only commissioners who voted against. The Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce also opposed the move, saying an additional tax would “place an unreasonable burden on restaurants” and the city should find a better way to fund resources for the homeless and domestic violence.
Rosen Gonzalez, who said the restaurant she and her fiancée own in Mid Beach would be affected by the homeless tax, asked why voters would choose to impose an additional tax on restaurants.
“I understand that the voters accepted this, but I have to say, who in their right mind says, ‘Let’s tax ourselves?’ Who is doing this? ”She said.
When someone from the crowd shot back to say the majority of voters backed it, Rosen Gonzalez said there was no organized opposition to the referendum.
“So you are voting against,” said Arriola, who supported the resolution. “The voices are there to say goodbye to them. Vote against it and go down in history as votes against the will of the voters. “
In response to the hesitation of some commissioners, Homeless Trust chairman Ron Book said he would pledge to negotiate a refund agreement with the city to offset the roughly $ 3.3 million the city is currently paying for its internal homeless assistance services . He said his goal was to find housing for the city’s current homeless population for the first two years after the tax was expanded.
“If we don’t tie up dollars to get these people into apartments, we’ve failed you and we’ve failed us,” he said.
Constance Collins, the president and executive director of the Lotus House Women’s Shelter, said she voted for the November referendum as a Miami Beach resident, calling on the city to pay her “fair share” of helping victims of domestic violence.
“The beds are full every night. We have women with children on the waiting list every night, ”she said. “This money is important to save lives. We have waited many, many years for this. I would say with certainty that human lives have been lost because our community does not do our fair share. “
Mine said he was against the additional tax because the city already has the capacity to solve its homelessness problems. He said the city offers shelter to the homeless, but they often don’t accept help. Alba Tarre, the city’s interim director of housing and social services, told commissioners the city has never turned away a homeless person looking for shelter and has an average surplus of around 12 beds. The city is currently funding 47 emergency shelters in various locations and is working on funding four more beds at the Lotus House, Tarre said.
Also, citing the Chamber of Commerce concerns, Meiner said he was unsure how the additional tax would increase total beach sales tax to 10%, which would put the city’s restaurants at a competitive disadvantage over mainland Miami restaurants, which currently have a fee levy 8% sales tax.
“I’m concerned about that headline that’s going to be out there,” he said.
Book said the vast majority of the nearly 900 homeless in the county are “shelter resistant” and the Homeless Trust is working to secure housing and provide case management for them.
He said he doesn’t think the city’s restaurants will be adversely affected by the new tax.
“On the 10% question, all I can tell you is that your voters have spoken,” said Book. “You know a lot of it is exported. I don’t think you will harm your restaurants. “
Jessica Knopf, owner of Sriracha House in South Beach, said there was a clear homeless problem near her restaurant on Washington Avenue. But after weathering the pandemic, dealing with price hikes from supply chain problems and rising salaries, Knopf said an additional tax – not to mention the possibility that city commission will vote to ban alcohol sales after 2 a.m. – is there even harder to run a small business in South Beach.
“I just hope it doesn’t go through,” she said of the tax. “We just can’t stand it anymore.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 5:56 p.m.
Martin Vassolo reports on the politics and government of Miami Beach for the Miami Herald. He started working for the Herald in January 2018 after attending the University of Florida where he served as Editor-in-Chief of The Independent Florida Alligator. Before that, he worked as a general contract reporter at the Herald metro counter and as an intern in political reporting.
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