Ron Book announces lawsuit after Miami Beach pulls homeless housing tax measure days before Election Day
Ron Book. Photo via Florida TaxWatch.

Ron Book
'This is uncharted territory.'

Homeless advocates will sue Miami Beach a day after City Commissioners yanked a homeless housing tax referendum off the ballot mid-election.

Ron Book, a lobbyist behind the campaign supporting the proposed tax, told attendees of a Florida TaxWatch event he won’t tolerate the attack on the democratic process.

“I am a nice guy until I am not,” he said.

The legal action comes after Miami Beach City Commissioners voted 4-3 six days ahead of the Nov. 5 election to pull the binding referendum off the ballot.

“I do not believe this is in the best interest of our city,” Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner said, according to the Miami Herald.

More than 20,000 voters in the city have already cast ballots, and Referendum 8 will still appear on ballots cast on Election Day.

The measure called for a 1% food and beverage tax similar to existing levies in other Miami-Dade County jurisdictions. The revenue raised would be used to help house homeless individuals and domestic violence victims. The measure would only apply for businesses that make more than $400,000 in gross annual revenues, and would exempt hotels.

Book said the funding would be used to buy up to 1,500 housing units. That would be a greater number than needed to house more than 1,000 estimated homeless individuals.

“You can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Book said. “When I say we have a plan to end it, I mean it.”

Book at the TaxWatch event discussed the successes of a program funded by food and beverage taxes in Miami-Dade County that has seen success stories including Desmond Meade, a onetime transient who later led a successful statewide effort to restore voting rights for felons after they serve their time. Meade was ultimately named by Time Magazine in 2019 as one of the nation’s most influential people.

Book said he’s angry that a municipality would arbitrarily pull a referendum when people were already voting.

“This is uncharted territory,” he said. “There are no cases around the country where somebody had something on the ballot, and in the middle of voting, six days before election, you’re going to yank the rug out because you don’t trust your constituents to do what needs to be done.”

Jacob Ogles

Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at [email protected].


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, William March, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Jesse Scheckner, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704