The Miami Beach City Commission canceled its own referendum just two days ago, effectively throwing out the votes of people who support it. And in court Friday, a judge ruled against Miami Beach residents who had sued to get the item back on the ballot.
After a long hearing this morning, Judge Antonio Arzola ruled in favor of the city, saying the city commission had the power to cancel Referendum 8.
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“This tax would make eating in Miami Beach restaurants more expensive than eating anywhere else in Miami Dade County and at a time when we have had 10 restaurants close over the past year we do not support this tax, this ballot measure was passed by a prior commission and this is really political, so I apologize to voters but we really don’t want to overtax our residents in Miami Beach,” said commissioner Kristin Gonzalez, who was among the 4-3 majority who voted against allowing voters to decide on the Homeless Assistance Tax.
“This is the first time that an election like this has been called off once voting is underway,” said the plaintiff’s attorney, Jerry Greenberg.
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Referendum 8 would’ve imposed a one-percent tax on food and beverages purchased at restaurants and bars that make more than $400,000 a year, with the revenue going to the Homeless Trust and to domestic violence support centers in Miami-Dade County.
By canceling the referendum with early voting underway, with at least 20,000 voters potentially already having weighed in on the item, the lawsuit argued that throwing out those votes disenfranchises voters. The plaintiffs were asking for an injunction to allow the referendum to proceed. Judge Arzola did not buy their argument.
“The loser in all of this, unequivocally, is the voters, a system had been set up, under the ordinance, for the voters of Miami Beach, the citizens of Miami Beach, to have their voices heard through this election,” Greenberg said.
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The plaintiffs’ attorneys say the city created the problem by sending out emails telling voters Referendum 8 was canceled, but then the city benefitted from the situation by arguing in court that putting the measure back on the ballot would only create more confusion, and the judge agreed.
“It creates a very scary precedent, because now what could happen, from the governor on down, somebody could issue an order saying don’t vote on this and then come into court claiming people were confused and they didn’t vote on this so you should cancel the whole election,” Greenberg said.
Now Miami Beach remains one of three cities in the county that do not have a special tax to support the Homeless Trust and domestic violence support centers.
