Miami voters chose Tuesday to tax themselves in order to fund nearly a half-billion dollars in government spending to help quell flooding, fund affordable housing, and pay for a slew of other public projects.
In a city as vulnerable to climate change as it is resistant to taxes, unofficial results show about 55 percent of Miami’s electorate voted in favor of outgoing Mayor Tomás Regalado’s $400 million Miami Forever general obligation bond with mail-in ballots, early voting and nearly three-fourths of the city’s precincts reporting. By endorsing the bond, voters have given their government the ability to borrow the money on the municipal bond market, leveraging a new property tax to pay for storm drain upgrades, economic development grants and other government initiatives.
They also handed Regalado — who made the bond about climate change and referred to it early on as his legacy — a major win on his way out the door. Regalado could not be reached on his cellphone for comment.
Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.
