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104-2000 LTC - CITY-OF MIAMI BEACH CITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA 33139 http:\lci.miami-beach,fl.u. L.T.C. NO.I04 2000 LETTER TO COMMISSION May 16, 2000 TO: Mayor Neisen O. Kasdin and Members of the City Commission FROM: Lawrence A. Levy ~ City Manager SUBJECT: PARKS AND BEACHES PERMANENT ENDOWMENT I hereby propose the following to be put in the form of an Ordinance in order to create a permanent endowment to insure that the City will always have sufficient funds to continuously improve our parks and beaches. 1. Codify that 10% of all collections of concession revenues for special events and any other concessions on the beach or in any parks be collected by the City and paid into the general fund (please note that 25% of the amount collected must be paid to the State of Florida under our agreements with the State). 2. Require that the promoters of any event held in any park, open space, or beach within the City limits be required to pay to the City an amount equal to 10% of the gross revenues (other than concession revenues) that are received by the promoter for such event. 3. Both concession revenues and the gross revenues from ticket sales for the event shall be subject to audit by the City. 4, The 10% of concession revenues collected by the City shall be paid into the general fund of the City and may be used for any lawful purpose. 5, The Ordinance should provide that the 10% of gross revenues (other than concession revenues) shall, at the discretion of the City, be paid either into a special trust fund held by the City, or paid into any endowment, foundation, or trust that is tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, that is created and has as its sole purpose the improvement of parks, beaches, and open spaces within the City; and that such monies may be used for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement, -- enhancement, maintenance, expansion or renovation of any beaches, parks or public open space within the jurisdictional limits of the City of Miami Beach, whether such park, beach, or open space is owned by the City, leased by it or managed by it. 6. The Ordinance should also provide that as a pre-condition to turning over any of these 10% monies to an endowment, trust, or foundation, such entity shall have been authorized to be created by the Mayor and City Commission of the City for the sole purpose of providing for parks, beaches, and open spaces within the City, and such entity shall enter into a long-term agreement with the City that it will only use the endowment to be created for such purposes. Further, the agreement between said entity and the City should provide that the spending policy for the endowment be that such entity shall not, in any single fiscal year, expend more than five percent of the average of the last three years' aggregate assets. The purpose of this is to ensure that there will be a compounding growth factor in the investments of the endowment. 7. The requirement to charge the both 10% amounts may be waived in a particular instance by a 5/7 vote of the Mayor and City Commission. I am seeking your input prior to requesting the Office of the City Attorney to draft an Ordinance to accomplish the foregoing. My intent is nQ1 to commercialize the parks and beaches, but to assure that in those instances when the City's most valuable resources are used for paid public events, that the City receives a fair return that will support and improve these facilities. LAL:ptw c: Janet Gavarrete, Assistant City Manager Murray H. Dubbin, City Attorney F:\CMGR\SALLIL TC.oo\IOPERCEN.CRQ