Will county approve revenue sharing?

The Metro Planning Advisory Board wants county commissioners to approve a countywide revenue-sharing plan before any community decides to form its own city.

With the recommendation, the PAB changed its stance: In May, it recommended that Pinecrest, Destiny, East Kendall and West Kendall residents vote on incorporation.

Only two communities — Pinecrest and Destiny — won approval from commissioners. Residents of those areas are gearing up to vote on incorporation in September.

The revenue sharing resolution is scheduled to go before the Metro Commission July 11. At that time, the commission will decide whether Pinecrest and Destiny will be exempted.

Having a revenue-sharing plan in place is important to county officials, who worry that affluent areas will leave the county financially strapped to pay for services in poor communities.

The PAB resolution has a loophole: If a revenue-sharing plan is not implemented within three years, then communities should be allowed to proceed with the incorporation process, the resolution states.

Destiny organizers say they agree that sharing revenues would be the best route to ensuring poorer communities are not left to fend for themselves as neighborhoods across the county sprint toward independence.

“We have no problem with pooling revenues,” Destiny leader Shirley Gibson said. “We feel it’s a fair way to go and it should include those communities that are already municipalities; they should make sure everyone participates.”

No one told the Pinecrest incorporation folks about the PAB’s latest decision, said Gary Matzner, one of the leaders in the Pinecrest movement. Gibson said that although she didn’t know the revenue-sharing issue was being put before commissioners, she was aware that the PAB had been discussing the measure.

Matzner said he doesn’t think the resolution applies to his community because Pinecrest has the approval from the Metro Commission to go ahead with the election.

“We followed the rules, and it’s my understanding that they’re going to let us go,” he said. “For them to do that to us now wouldn’t be right.”

The resolution also calls for the creation of a two-tier government system countywide. One tier would include dividing the unincorporated area into districts and allowing residents of each district to elect a council. That council would decide on local issues such as building and zoning.

The Metro Commission, the second tier of government, would decide on countywide issues such as the airport, seaport, public health, tourism, trade, regional crime and crime lab, water and sewer facilities, and public housing and welfare.

The two-tier system is not a new idea. Before Key Biscayne became a city, the area had an elected council that represented the community before commissioners.

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