{"id":1086,"date":"2026-05-28T17:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=1086"},"modified":"2026-05-28T17:01:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:01:30","slug":"can-miami-beach-fix-pipes-and-stop-flooding-without-raising-costs-for-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=1086","title":{"rendered":"Can Miami Beach fix pipes and stop flooding without raising costs for residents?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

In Miami Beach, the water keeps rising. Streets keep flooding. Pipes keep failing. Making streets dry and updating aging infrastructure, officials say, will cost more than $1 billion over the next eight years.<\/p>\n

Read more How stupid can you be in a storm? Here are 5 tips on avoiding the worst outcomes<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But after a Miami Beach City Commission meeting last week, it\u2019s unclear how the city will pay for it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The vote was 4-3 to impose a moratorium on increases to water, sewer and stormwater rates. The city administration had proposed rate hikes to fund those enormous infrastructure needs, but elected officials faced backlash from residents already burdened by the rising cost of housing, insurance and other living expenses.<\/p>\n

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Under the utility rate increases proposed by the city administration, the total monthly cost of water, sewer and stormwater fees for the average single-family homeowner would have gone from $138 to approximately $216 by 2031, officials said, plus additional rate adjustments passed down from Miami-Dade County. For condo owners, the average increase would have been about 70% of the increase projected for single-family homeowners, officials said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cYear after year, it\u2019s becoming more difficult for our long-term residents to live in our city,\u201d Commissioner Alex Fernandez said at the May 20 meeting. \u201cWe love to speak about the wealth that moves to Miami Beach, and the billionaires and the celebrities and the high-end restaurants and the financial firms that are coming into our city. But we also serve individuals who are poor individuals, who are elderly individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Officials have said the substantial increases are needed now because of decisions by past city commissioners to implement smaller rate changes that didn\u2019t match the pace of inflation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s to-do list includes massive anti-flooding, road-raising efforts \u2014 like on First Street, where a resiliency project was initially approved a decade ago but construction has yet to begin, and in North Beach, which is undergoing rapid redevelopment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The fees would also go toward fixing \u201ca tremendous amount of water and sewer infrastructure that has reached the end of its useful service life,\u201d some of which dates back to the 1930s, according to the city administration. That includes upgrading and replacing pipes and pump stations.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Commissioner Tanya Katzoff Bhatt, who voted against the moratorium, said the decision would set a \u201cdangerous precedent\u201d by preventing rate increases without either the approval of five out of seven elected officials, a declaration of a \u201cpublic safety emergency,\u201d or a mandate to make repairs by a higher government authority.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see our friends and our neighbors on fixed incomes, or folks who have lost jobs, really struggling. Nobody is trying to punish anybody,\u201d Bhatt said. \u201cWe desperately, though, cannot afford to not move forward with these projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Shifting funding toward infrastructure<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

Commissioner Joseph Magazine said he would support the moratorium due to cost of living concerns but urged his colleagues to admit that it would mean certain projects, like the one on First Street, may not get done.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be honest with people,\u201d Magazine said at the meeting. \u201cI will say I\u2019ll vote for this moratorium, but I\u2019m not going to go and promise that we\u2019re going to do First Street, because we\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But Commissioner David Suarez, who co-sponsored the moratorium proposal with Fernandez, said he believes the city can do both: address its infrastructure problems and keep utility rates stable.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He suggested that the city reduce the property tax rate for its general fund \u2014 which includes an operating budget that has risen sharply from $627 million five years ago to $911 million today \u2014 and increase the tax rate for its capital budget, which covers infrastructure work.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Pathetic\u2019 stunt or addressing \u2018misdeeds?\u2019 Group files complaint against Bondi<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Effectively, the city would be shifting funding from operating to infrastructure needs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can get there without having to raise the rates,\u201d Suarez said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Suarez\u2019s proposal was referred to a June 5 committee meeting for further discussion. The city is already planning to reduce its operating budget slightly this year, based on a plan championed by Suarez to reduce the millage rate so that property owners don\u2019t see a tax increase.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

City Manager Eric Carpenter told elected officials that, whatever avenue the city takes to pay for infrastructure, it may need to involve borrowing money in the form of issuing bonds.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Raising water and sewer rates would mean issuing \u201crevenue bonds\u201d that are repaid through utility fees. Otherwise, the city could pursue a general obligation bond that is repaid through taxes and would require a voter referendum in November.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2018Time is of the essence\u2019<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

Some city officials seemed uneasy about the move to prevent utility rate increases without an alternative plan immediately in place.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

John Norris, the city\u2019s public works director, said at the meeting last week that \u201ctime is of the essence,\u201d citing a string of recent infrastructure failures like water main breaks and a sewer main backup.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have answers for the residents if we don\u2019t have a plan moving forward,\u201d Norris said. \u201cI go out to many residents\u2019 homes and I tell them, \u2018We\u2019ve got this project, it\u2019s going to solve the problems.\u2019 And without a funding mechanism for these projects, we no longer have those answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At a committee meeting in April, Norris noted that failing to fix aging water and sewer pipes could have dire consequences. He invoked disastrous incidents elsewhere in Florida, including massive sewage spills in Fort Lauderdale in 2019 and 2020 and spills in Tampa in 2015 and 2016.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an opportunity right now to start addressing these issues,\u201d Norris said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In response to Norris\u2019 warnings last week, Suarez said the public works director was presenting a false choice.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t appreciate the city administration giving kind of this, like, doom and gloom situation: \u2018If you don\u2019t do this, if you don\u2019t tax your most vulnerable residents, you\u2019re going to have all these pipes breaking,\u2019\u201d Suarez said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get it. It\u2019s old infrastructure. But we\u2019re going to find a way soon to do this where we think it\u2019s much more equitable and responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more A $20 smoothie and $67 steak? Prices at Miami store hit the wallet \u2014 and a nerve<\/a><\/p>\n

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