On Thursday, June 7th Deede held a Property Tax Workshop with the Normandy Shores HOA. The purpose of this meeting was to explain the upcoming legislative session in Tallahassee.

While reduced property taxes will yield potential savings to residents and might jump-start the stalled real estate market, it will also sharply reduce the revenues to local municipalities.  For example, Miami Beach is looking at a $20-$40 million dollar reduction in next year's budget. That's a lot of money to cut.

As part of Deede's workshop, she showed a presentation on the make-up of Miami Beach's budget, the potential cuts, and where these cuts might come from.

Deede then handed out a worksheet where residents ranked the importance of various city services.  These results will be sent to the city manager in  a formal letter to give him the sentiments of the residents.  Below are the results of this survey.

Deede is available to hold this workshop with other interested HOAs.  Just call or email Deede to set up a date.


Survey Results
Ranked by importance.


1.  Police
Preventing crime, response time, visibility

2.  Fire
Response time

3.  Emergency Medical Response
Response time, quality of service

4.  Hurricanes
Preparedness, clean up after the storm

5.  Maintenance of parks and playgrounds
Maintenance, lawn maintenance, landscaping, equipment maintenance/ replacement, other maintenance i.e. court re-striping/;asphalt/field maintenance etc., cleanliness/ litter control

6.  Garbage/Trash Collection
Curbside pick-up, bulk trash pick-up

7.  Maintenance of roads
Maintenance of roads/asphalt, drainage

8.  Cleanliness of public areas

9.  Cleanliness of beaches

10.  Renovation of City structures such as   
City public buildings, pump stations, beach front and park rest rooms, park fields and playing areas, park buildings, swimming pools, tennis courts fire stations, police station. etc.

11.  Programming
Staffing of parks, specialty programming for children, specialty programming for adults, cultural activities

12.  Ocean Rescue / Beach Patrol
Staffing lifeguards

13.  Homeless
City’s control of the homeless population

14.  Traffic light synchronization

15.  Fire Prevention
Inspecting properties and giving feedback to owners.

16.  City Answer Center
Receives questions from residents

17.  Code Enforcement
Patrol neighborhoods.  Clean up violators

18.  Re-nourishment of sand/beach

19.  Clean up canals and waterways

20.  Building department
Shorter wait times

21.  Funding tourism advertising and marketing organizations such as the VCA

22.  Clean up after holiday weekends and major events

23.  Pedestrian walk/light synchronization

24.  Maintaining and staffing a Visitor Center