Legislature passes bill to end Miami Gardens-North Miami Beach water dispute

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 2/10/22-Rep. Felicia Simone Robinson, D-Miami Gardens, speaks during session, Thursday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

Legislation to end a water dispute between Miami Gardens and North Miami Beach is ready for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature after members of the Florida House OK’d changes the bill’s Senate sponsor added last week.

The House voted 111-0 for HB 11, which is meant to bring parity to the way North Miami Beach provides water services to Miami Gardens.

North Miami Beach Mayor Michael Joseph says the bill will instead “set a bad precedent for government overreach” by imposing an “unnecessary burden” on his city.

Miami Gardens receives water from the Norwood Water Treatment Plant, which is owned by the adjacent city of North Miami Beach but stands within Miami Gardens’ bounds.

A study Miami Gardens conducted found that North Miami Beach has been adding a 25% surcharge to water it provides outside its limits. While the typical quarterly household water bill in Miami Gardens from the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department was $91.68 two years ago, the same amount of water cost $160.50 from the North Miami Beach-owned plant.

Miami Gardens sued its neighbor over the issue in 2018.

Last year, the parties settled. North Miami Beach agreed to pay $9 million to close out the case after the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear it.

Rep. Felicia Robinson, who sponsored the legislation with fellow Sen. Shevrin Jones, a fellow Miami Gardens Democrat, said the door to future surcharges needs to be shut completely.

“It’s about parity,” she said.

HB 11, which Jones amended last week so that it only applies to Miami Gardens and North Miami Beach, would update Florida Statutes to specify that a municipality operating a water and/or sewer utility plant can still levy an up to 25% surcharge to cover the extra cost of providing its services to another municipality — unless the facility rendering the services is in the recipient municipality. In such a case, the service-providing municipality must charge the recipient municipality no more than it charges its own residents.

“It is time that we do right by these people,” Jones said. “Because this has been going on for too long.”

Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Hollywood independent who voted against the measure, argued the bill would cause a significant negative fiscal impact to North Miami Beach.

Joseph said in a Florida Politics op-ed that stripping North Miami Beach of the ability to include the surcharge in its services to Miami Gardens, including Hard Rock Stadium within it, would lead to a loss of roughly $5 million a year.

“And what’s worse, we’re being asked to accept this while Miami Gardens continues charging its own residents a 10% utility tax — on water they don’t even treat or deliver. If this was truly about helping residents save, they could start there,” he said, adding that North Miami Beach has “made every attempt to work this out neighbor-to-neighbor.”

“We waived surcharges for government accounts. We invited discussion. We offered options. But instead of negotiation, Miami Gardens went to Tallahassee to flex political muscle.”