Jimmy Morales
Miami Beach is out nearly $19 million in parking impact fees because city failed to collect.
The staggering number comes from a report released by the city manager’s office this week which showed a long history of neglectful collection policy. The uncollected money would have gone towards improving the city’s parking facilities.
“Administratively we are fixing the problem,” said City Manager Jimmy Moralez to the city commission on Wednesday. “Currently we are billing, and billing for next year as well.”
Moralez sees the issue as a retroactive one and asked the commission for guidance on how to proceed in recovering past fees due to the city.
For 25 years Miami Beach has had the “fee in lieu of parking” program which allows developers to construct projects without sufficient parking. A one-time fee is accessed per parking space, currently a $35,000 fee, and that money goes into the city coffers to improve parking facilities.
The problem is that for nearly the entire lifetime of the program, the city has been woefully neglectful in properly collecting the fees, or even collecting at all said the report.
The findings also showed:
When it bothered to collect, the city would sometimes charge outdated and substantially lower rates.
Some accounts were never integrated into the city’s financial system, others were improperly labeled “closed.”
Developers had the run of the system, depositing fees either late or none at all.
When checks bounced, they stayed bounced.
Onsite inspections which determined if parking inefficiencies were accurate or increased never took place, producing an inaccurate billing information.
On three separate internal audits (from 1997, 2003, and 2010) these issues came up, and the current administration found that little was done.
Commissioner Jonah Wolfson wondered how those reports went ignored by former City Manager Jorge Gonzalez.
“Three internal reports that were never put on our agendas,” said Wolfson. “I just want to know how someone doesn’t do something about that.”
Commission Ed Tobin agreed: “This was the problem with our City Manager Gonzalez, he wouldn’t tell us things.”
The idea of subpoenaing Gonzalez for answers was tossed around by Tobin, but for now that remains idle dais talk.
The commissioners directed staff to come up with a plausible plan on retrieving the uncollected fees.
Wolfson warned his fellow commissioners against going after these fees, as it could hurt businesses.
His pro-business leniency was not shared by the rest of the commission.
Commissioner Deede Weithorn suggested a course of action that included going after escrow accounts that were holding fee payments, then proceeding to the bigger delinquent accounts, and finally the rest.
Many possible obstacles stand in the way of collection: some businesses have since closed, the statute of limitation for collecting might play a role, and the amount of research and work might outweigh the return.
The city manager’s office has until the end of the month to form a plan of action.
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