In 2014, Town residents who were living within special taxing districts in the Town of Miami Lakes expressed interest in transferring these services to the Town with the goal of receiving hometown services. In November 8, 2016, Miami-Dade County voters approved a Charter Amendment authorizing a municipality to act as the governing body for special taxing districts within their municipalities. Once the amendment was approved, the residents of six special taxing districts within the Town presented a petition to be transferred from the County and the Town Council approved the request on September 5, 2017. On January 21, 2018, elections within the districts' boundaries were conducted via mail-in ballot. All six districts received a majority vote ratifying the transfer to the Town.

The six districts were created by the County via ordinance. When the districts were transferred to the Town, the ordinance by which they were created are binding unless superseded by a subsequent Town Council ordinance that modifies such ordinance.

The ordinance creating the lake maintenance special taxing district states: “Lake maintenance services may be adjusted as a function of the budget process, upon recommendation by the district's property owners, collected at public meetings.” As such, public meetings were held with our lake maintenance districts, Lake Hilda and Lake Patricia, to gather the district's property owners recommendations.

The ordinance creating the security guard special taxing districts states: “The service level will be reviewed with the District's homeowners association Board prior to renewal or reletting of a service contract as it is an integral part of this district's budget process. In the absence of a bona fide homeowners association, notification will be sent informing the district property owners of Dade County selection of a service provider.” The security guard special taxing districts for Loch Lomond, Royal Oaks East and Miami Lakes Section 1 have bonafide homeowner associations that included all the residents of the special taxing district. As such, the Town held meeting with the homeowner association Board, which were open to the public, to review the service level.

Royal Oaks Section 1, however, has more than 400 residents that are not represented by the Royal Oaks homeowners association. In this case, the special taxing district creation ordinance dictates that notification be sent to the district property owners of the selection of a service provider. In an abundance of caution, the Town held meetings with the property owners of the Royal Oaks Section 1 district to gather their recommendations and a notice will be sent to the district property owners of the selection of service provider. In addition, the Town recommends forming a Royal Oaks Section 1 committee to facilitate communications between residents and the Town. The committee shall be shall be comprised of three members that reside within this special taxing district. The following members have volunteered to be members of this board and received support by the residents that attended the August 22 special taxing district meeting:

· Manuel Lopez

· Abel Fernandez

· Anibal Perez

The purpose of the Committee is to discuss the level of service preference, budget, and related matters among the members of the district and provide recommendations to the Council.