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The Miami Herald 8/15/12 article regarding Beach resort tax Beach resort tax referendum passes amid uncertainty, investigation - 08/15/2012 | Miami...Page 1 of 2 Posted on Wed, Aug. 15, 2012 Beach resort tax referendum passes amid uncertainty, investigation By David Smiley The Miami Herald Voters have overwhelmingly supported an increase to Miami Beach’s resort tax to fund improvements to the city’s convention center. So now what? The passing of Tuesday’s referendum by a two-to-one margin allows for up to a one-cent increase in Miami Beach’s tax on room rent, which if passed would raise $90 million over time to pair with $55 million in-hand to improve the outdated 1957 convention center. The vote also shows public support of a renovation and expansion project. “The penny tax is going to get us the $100 million we need,” William Talbert III, chairman of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, said Tuesday night at an election party at the convention center. He said he “wants to work as fast as possible.” But there’s a catch. Despite Tuesday’s vote and any momentum it might provide the convention center renovation and expansion movement, action on improvements or even the voter-backed tax increase will have to wait. The referendum language, placed on the ballot by the Miami Beach City Commission, allows for a tax increase only after commissioners pass an ordinance raising the rate. And even then, the city must ink a renovation and expansion deal with a developer before the tax takes effect. And there-in lies the problem. The commission voted in December to bid out a $1 billion convention center district project that aims to have developers renovate the convention center, build an adjacent hotel and redesign and lease the surrounding publicly owned acres into an iconic complex. That project, however, remains in the early stages due largely to a public corruption investigation into whether the city’s then-purchasing director tainted the bidding process. Development teams have provided voluminous packets to show their qualifications and an evaluation committee has ranked the bidders. But interim city manager Kathie Brooks says she won’t make her own, necessary recommendation to the commission or bring forth an ordinance to increase the bed tax until the probe is closed. http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/15/v-print/2953439/beach-resort-tax-referendum-pa...8/17/2012 Beach resort tax referendum passes amid uncertainty, investigation - 08/15/2012 | Miami...Page 2 of 2 And even if Brooks makes a recommendation, commissioners can still ax the project in favor of a different approach, start over, or move it forward only to wait months or years before coming to a contract with a developer. “It’s just another tax with no plan,” Commissioner Jonah Wolfson said. “I voted against it.” Other commissioners aren’t so pessimistic. But they acknowledge that uncertainty remains when it comes to the fate of the convention center, which hasn’t seen a major renovation since the late 1980s. Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce president and City Commissioner Jerry Libbin described the results of Tuesday’s referendum as “the residents speaking out, saying ‘we believe the economic impact of the convention center is an important cog in our wheel.’ ” “However, I don’t believe it’s a final mandate that we move forward,” he said. Libbin said the city and Miami Beach’s business community now need to present a plan that meets the needs of major conventions and receives the support of Miami Beach residents. The chamber, the bureau, Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association and other business groups that lobbied for the referendum are already planning to convene a stakeholders group to come up with a list of business and community needs for the convention center. As part of their efforts to have the referendum passed, the groups stressed to voters that a vote for a resort tax increase was not the same as a vote in favor of the city’s convention center district proposal. Still, former Miami Beach Chamber chairman Aaron Perry said the goal is to be prepared no matter what the city commission decides. “What we’re going to do is let the city go about determining the next steps,” Perry said. “What this definitely does is it puts the city in a much better position, having this type of financial leverage. It sends a statement that the city is serious, the residents are serious and we now have a pretty large pot of money to potentially bring to the table.” But when that will happen remains an important question. “We need to show the industry we are moving forward,” said Bob Balsam, general manager of the convention center. “We need to try to keep up with the competition: Houston, Dallas, San Diego. This industry is not waiting for us.” © 2012 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved. http://www.miamiherald.com http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/15/v-print/2953439/beach-resort-tax-referendum-pa...8/17/2012