Miami-Dade County, Florida, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has dropped plans for a proposed $2.5 billion municipal bond referendum in November that may need funded infrastructure projects.
In its place, the mayor said Thursday she’s going to work to propose a wonderful larger bonding plan that will include money for transit projects.
Proceeds from the “305 Future Ready” bonds Levine Cava proposed in her State of the County address in January would have provided funding for cheap housing, septic to sewer conversions, flood prevention and resilient parks, but didn’t include money for transportation initiatives.
“We’ve got now decided to present a wonderful stronger, more comprehensive bond proposal to tackle our biggest challenges and transform our future,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
Bloomberg News
“We’ve got now listened closely to the community’s feedback on this major undertaking, including the need to recommend a transit plan,” she said in a post on Instagram.
“Based in your input now we’ve got decided to present a wonderful stronger, more comprehensive bond proposal to tackle our biggest challenges and transform our future,” Levine Cava said. “It’s going to require constructing greater public commitment inside the months ahead to ensure that our residents trust the strategy and plan.”
She said the brand recent proposal might be put together over the following 18 months with input from residents and other stakeholders, put before most of the people for comment and might be ready for a vote in November 2026.
While the county has seen record population and economic growth, Levine Cava said, it has also faced challenges inside the areas of cheap housing and transportation.
“Over the course of the last 60 days, my team and I even have had productive and thoughtful conversations on getting the job done with a commitment to a highly accountable and fiscally responsible plan,” she said.
“Through these conversations with our County Commissioners, business leaders, city mayors and commissioners and residents the need to recommend a transit plan was clear,” Levine Cava said. “It’s going to require constructing greater public commitment to ensure that our residents trust the strategy and the plan.”
She said that while she has seen support for the current bond proposal, she was confident “we are going to probably be constructing even stronger support for a comprehensive proposal … a daring, visionary and fiscally responsible, expanded ‘Future Ready 305’ bond.”
Levine Cava is running for a second term inside the Aug. 20 mayoral election. She was elected in 2020 with about 50% of the vote becoming the first woman and Jewish person to operate its mayor.
She was polling ahead of other candidates inside the race including Manny Cid, mayor of Miami Lakes, according to a November survey by EMC Research. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a runoff election will probably be held on Nov. 5.