It is recommended that the Town Council approve the attached Ordinance pertaining to the proposed FY 2018-19 assessment rates for the active Security Guard and Multipurpose Maintenance, listed in Exhibit A. All lots and parcels within the districts are unique due to their geographical boundaries, affected property owners, and level of service. The attached Ordinance relates to the rates for Special Taxing Districts. The Town of Miami Lakes has determined, that the services provided by these Special Taxing Districts will offer special benefits to properties within each district, exceeding the amount of special assessments to be levied. Therefore, it is hereby recommended that the proposed rates being assessed in Exhibit A, be approved and adopted.

The final assessments will have to be approved prior to September 15, 2018.

In 2014, Town residents who were living within special taxing districts expressed interest in transferring these services to the Town with the goal of receiving hometown services. At the April 14, 2014, town council meeting, a motion was made to request the transfer of special taxing districts to be managed by the Town of Miami Lakes.

On November 8, 2016, Miami-Dade County voters approved a Charter Amendment under Ordinance No. 16-14 authorizing a municipality to act as the governing body for special taxing districts located entirely within their municipalities. (Miami-Dade County, FL, Code, Chapter 18, art. I, §18-3.1.)

Subsequently, in March 2017, a workshop was held in collaboration with Miami Dade County to present an option to the residents to transfer the County Special Taxing Districts or create new special taxing districts to be managed by the Town in order to better serve our residents. The workshop explained the different types of districts, the process of the transfer and questions related to the process.

Currently, Miami Dade County operates special assessments for four security guard services, and two lake maintenance districts within the Town of Miami Lakes. The taxing districts are self-sustaining and no general revenue funds are going to be utilized.

The residents of the six special taxing districts presented a petition to transfer to the Town and the Town Council approved the request to transfer of these special taxing districts by resolution on September 5, 2017 and subsequently on January 21, 2018 an election was conducted via mail-in ballot to those within the district boundaries. All six districts received a majority vote ratifying the transfer to the Town.

Town of Miami Lakes Process

As a result of this election, all six districts will be transferred to the Town on October 1, 2018, therefore, we are now responsible for establishing the rate for next fiscal year. To be able to accomplish this, the Town has taken the following steps:

• Identified contracts that can be piggy-back to prevent a gap in services.

• Identified contracts with various price points

• Met with residents on the various districts to discuss service levels and contract pricing options

• Began the discussion about establishing a representative residents group to provide feedback and direction

• Discussed the development of a customized RFP for guard services and a routine meeting with residents to get feedback

• Established a management and overhead rate of 20% less than the County current year cost for budgeting purposes. Actual expenses will be monitored through-out the year.

The specific relevant information for each of the districts is outlined below:

Loch Lomond – Guard Gate District

This district has traditionally operated with one guard 24 hours a day every day of the year and a rover guard for 24 hours a day a total of 17,250 hours a year. As a result of a projected budget deficit by the County, the level of service reduced the rover to only 12 hours per day for the remaining of the year. The guards are provided by Kent Security via a County contract at a rate of $20.50/ hour.

The Town met with the residents of the district on different occasions. Meetings were held on April 11, May 15^th and August 8^th with the HOA representatives and the community to inform the process, to discuss recommendations and to respond to their questions. At those meeting, the HOA recommended restoring the rover guard both for 24 hours a day; maintain the current security guard company and having an entrance feature and landscaping at the guard gate. Keeping the proposed assessment rate of $2,726.40, which is the same as the current, will be able to fund these improvements.

Royal Oaks East and Royal Oaks Section 1

These districts are operated with two guards (one on each guard gate) 24 hours a day every day of the year for a total of 17,520 hours a year. The guards are provided by Kent Security via a County contract at a rate of $20.50/ hour.

On May 16, 2018 and subsequently on May 24, 2018, the Town held meetings with the residents of both districts., while there is an existing HOA within those districts, the concern was that almost half of the district residents were not being represented; therefore, we passed flyers and posted notices at the guard houses to increase participation.

At those meetings, the residents who participated indicated that they wanted to augment the services by including a rover guard which would be divided between Royal Oaks East and Royal Oaks Section 1 for an additional 4,380 hours/year per district for1 for a total of 21,900 hours a year. The residents also agree to allocate $21.12 per guard hour, while leaving the decision as to which firm to select for later this summer.

Subsequent meetings were held for Royal Oaks East on August 15^th and Royal Oaks West on August 22^nd. In those meetings the HOA and representatives from the community respectively, recommended not to include the rover guard nor the Town's supervision for the guards. Therefore, the assessment rate includes one guard for each gate 24 hours a day every day, which will be supervised by the HOA. In addition, Royal Oaks East recommended maintaining the same rate and including a contingency reserve in the budget. This resulted in an assessment rate of $977.73 for Royal Oaks East and $800.14 for Royal Oaks Section One.

Miami Lakes Section 1

This district operates with one guard 24 hours a day every day of the year for a total of 8,760 hours a year. The guards are provided via County contract assumes a rate of $21.12/ hour.

On May 16, 2018, the Town met with the residents of the district, however participation at that meeting consisted of only four residents. In the meeting, we discussed maintaining the same level of service with the same providers for budget purposes but add $1,500/ year for landscaping enhancements.

A second meeting was held on August 9^th where representatives of the seven HOA were in attendance. During the meeting, representative of the HOA recommended that the budget maintained the same 8,760 guard hours a year, $1,500 for landscaping enhancements and switching their security guard contract to FPI at a rate of $14.35/hr. In addition, it was recommended that the same rate be maintained and that the savings be kept as a reserve for next year to consider security cameras. The proposed budget for this district is $285.37.

Lake Hilda

This lake maintenance special taxing district is serviced 12 times a year by Solitude under a County contract.

On May 17, 2018, the Town met with the residents of the district. At that meeting, we discussed adding 6 additional service cycles for the summer months ($2,400 year). On August 16^th, we held a second meeting and the original budget request was recommended by the attendees. The proposed assessment rate of $157.92 includes the 18 cycles per year.

Lake Patricia

This lake maintenance special taxing district is serviced 12 times a year (treatment includes a blue dye that is added to the water) by Solitude under a County contract.

On May 17, 2018, the Town met with the residents of the district. At that meeting, we discussed adding 6 additional service cycles for the summer months ($2,400/year) and including and allocation of $1,000 for fish stocking of the lake. All but one the proposed service improvement was supported unanimously, but a couple of residents were not in favor of the blue dye treatment.

A second meeting was held on August 16. There were some concerns raised about the maintenance of the lake during the last year. An expert from the vendor side answered questions and the residents recommended to continue with the service proposed at the last meeting. A $100 dollars to account for the fish stocking permit was added to the original budget.

The proposed assessment rate of $231.46 includes the additional services recommended by the attendees.

Preliminary Assessments

The fiscal impact is only for those homeowners within the boundaries of the Special Taxing Districts.

These funds will accrue from the special assessments paid by the property owners of folios within the active Special Taxing Districts. A summary table with the budgets for each district and the rate is provided below.

Timeline

The preliminary rates were discussed for last time at meetings in August 2018 with each district to determine the final level of service that will be include for the Fiscal year 2018-2019. The final rate will appear on the Tax Bill. It should be noted that only reductions to the unit count can be made after November 1, 2018.

Attachments:

Loch Lomond – proposed budget

Lake Hilda - proposed budget

Lake Patricia - proposed budget

Royal Oaks Section I - proposed budget

Royal Oaks East – proposed budget

Miami Lakes Section I- proposed budget