It would be curious to know if there has ever been discussion about fans themselves floating an "Issue Petition" in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties to gain as; an example, a 1/2 penny addition to the sales tax in each county to build a Multipurpose Sports Arena.

 

It is my very limited understanding that in Florida if citizens get together and form a (grassroots) organization, plus get a certain percentage of Issue Petitions signed then the issue must be legally put on the next election ballot for a vote . The percentage of signatures you need is based on the amount of people who actually voted in the very last prior election. I read somewhere that in one county all they needed was 5% of registered voters to sign petitions to get it on the ballot for a vote. Citizens in Florida are entitled on their own to do the above without politicians to do this.

 

In essence, why could we not try to figure how this actually works and ask everyone in South Florida to pay a 1/2 Penny sales tax increase to build a Multipurpose Sports Arena in lets say a -November election? Does anyone know if this is feasible to do here in South Florida?? Please relate to everyone if there any history about this specific type of citizen driven election petition for the Marlins, or another Sports team.

 

This idea is quite different than someone getting some petitions signed on scrap papers or e-mailng a group of politicians and then resort to begging them to do something.

 

I am not so much interested in comments that it will never work because people won't vote for it in the end, so kind of, let's all forget about it from the outset.

 

My interest is more specific: Does anyone know if there is some real reason a grassroots fan organization cannot ask voters here in South Florida for a half penny sales tax increase?? Or some other tax ??? from a any perspective or reason?? Or, is it this was never tried?? Is there any history in this Marlins saga about this particular issue?? Please share it to quench some curiousty here.

 

The key here is that, if it were feasible, the county commissioners in all three counties would not be steering this thing. The commissioners would have no way to prevent the issue being on a ballot for a vote. It is something us fans could start and get rolling without them in each county.

 

I have researched this issue only a very little bit and have on my own concluded, it may very well be possible, that if we fans got the correct percentage of Issue Petitions signed in each county the issue asking voters to pay a 1/2 penny extra sales tax for a time to build a Mutipurpose Sports Arena would legally have to be placed on the ballot for an election to be decided by voters.

 

County Commissioners would have no decisions in this initial undertaking. Maybe, if the Commissioners saw we fans were succeeding in a real petition drive they would then join the bandwagon and place the issue on the ballot themselves which is the other way to get a tax issue on the ballot in Florida. I am not trying to knock our Commissioners in any way here just being a bit proactivly thinking unboxed, or something....

 

My limited understanding is that if County Commissioners want to add a tax in their county they are required to put it for a vote before County taxpayers. I am sure County Commissioners are extremely reluctant to ask for such a tax on their own. It makes them look bad to ask for any new tax. But, if we ourselves get it on the ballot then the Commissioners then again may want to grab on and run with it, plus help us. At that point we would all work together if not sooner. This would be fan driven not politician driven to start.

 

Maybe we could start a Fan grassroots organization. I have noted many very recent articles where Mr Luria and others in the Marlins organization are asking for fan support with local politicians which tells me the Marlins are out of any real options down here without some real support from us fans. Who knows maybe if we got together we could catch a big fish together-Maybe even a ??Marlin?????

I don't know if a petition will get this on the ballot, but I do know that something like this is doomed to fail. Trying to get the three counties to agree on the specifics of how this thing would be done is going to be impossible, getting the voters to approve it will be twice as impossible. That's one of the reasons the Marlins have avoided even considering this option. I also don't see the need for a multi-purpose sports arena in South Florida considering we have two football stadiums, three arenas and three spring training facilities in the Tri-County area.

 

The only organization that I know of that is trying to get a stadium built is "Citizens for Baseball in South Florida". I do not know much about the group, I just know that they exist. ( :lol ) The lady who stood up and made herself feel important at the season ticket holder's banquet is MIA and I doubt we'll hear from her again. Samson during the Town Hall Meeting at Fan Fest explained the Marlins were still looking at how to get the fans involved and would unveil a campaign soon (one and a half months later and we still haven't heard from them on this issue).

Does anyone know what has happened with the efforts from the Lawyer, Marianne that was putting together a grass roots campaign? I haven't heard anything in months.

I've been out of it for a while but I know that last month she had to postpone a presentation at a Council meeting to the Village of Palmetto Bay on behalf of Citizens for Baseball in South Florida due to her mother's illness. I'm not sure if it took place this month but I will try to find out what happened.

At the risk of sounding condescending, I'm sorry, but here we go again with some "half-thought out taxing scheme" that has been made to sound smart, but without any benefit of actually looking to see whether something like that is legal in the state of Florida.

 

Your idea of a "grassroots ballot initiative" for a 1% sales tax for a "multipurpose stadium" CANNOT be done according to local law. The "people" do not have the authority to put a measure like that on the ballot. Just read Section 212.055, Florida Statutes and you'll see that 1% sales surtaxes cannot be "voter driven" but must be approved by the local government body and then approved by the voters (not the other way around), plus I don't think a "multi-purpose stadium" is even considered a "Local Government Infrastructure" eligible for a surtax:

 

(d)1. The proceeds of the surtax authorized by this subsection and any interest accrued thereto shall be expended by the school district or within the county and municipalities within the county, or, in the case of a negotiated joint county agreement, within another county, to finance, plan, and construct infrastructure and to acquire land for public recreation or conservation or protection of natural resources and to finance the closure of county-owned or municipally owned solid waste landfills that are already closed or are required to close by order of the Department of Environmental Protection. Any use of such proceeds or interest for purposes of landfill closure prior to July 1, 1993, is ratified. Neither the proceeds nor any interest accrued thereto shall be used for operational expenses of any infrastructure, except that any county with a population of less than 75,000 that is required to close a landfill by order of the Department of Environmental Protection may use the proceeds or any interest accrued thereto for long-term maintenance costs associated with landfill closure. Counties, as defined in s. 125.011(1), and charter counties may, in addition, use the proceeds and any interest accrued thereto to retire or service indebtedness incurred for bonds issued prior to July 1, 1987, for infrastructure purposes, and for bonds subsequently issued to refund such bonds. Any use of such proceeds or interest for purposes of retiring or servicing indebtedness incurred for such refunding bonds prior to July 1, 1999, is ratified.

 

2. For the purposes of this paragraph, "infrastructure" means:

 

a. Any fixed capital expenditure or fixed capital outlay associated with the construction, reconstruction, or improvement of public facilities which have a life expectancy of 5 or more years and any land acquisition, land improvement, design, and engineering costs related thereto.

 

b. A fire department vehicle, an emergency medical service vehicle, a sheriff's office vehicle, a police department vehicle, or any other vehicle, and such equipment necessary to outfit the vehicle for its official use or equipment that has a life expectancy of at least 5 years.

 

c. Any expenditure for the construction, lease, or maintenance of, or provision of utilities or security for, facilities as defined in s. 29.008.

 

So, that's STRIKE ONE!

 

Second, we here in Palm Beach County already pay a 1% sales surtax pursuant to Section 212.055(2), F.S., which was passed in 2004 for the construction of school facilities. Miami-Dade County pays 6.5% thanks in part to a voter approved surtax for Jackson Memorial Hospital pursuant to Section 212.055(5), F.S. ("County Public Hospital Surtax"). Why do I say this, because you can't keep adding surtaxes to the Counties when the state sales tax is capped by law at 6%:

 

(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a county shall not levy local option sales surtaxes authorized in this subsection and subsections (3), (4), and (5) in excess of a combined rate of 1 percent.

 

Can't make us pay an 8% sales tax in Palm Beach, or 7.5% in Miami-Dade.

 

So, that's STRIKE TWO!

 

Third, WHY ANOTHER MULTIPURPOSE STADIUM? Who is going to "share" this facility? FAU? UM? Our Lady of Perpetual Motion? It would make NO business sense for the Marlins to enter into any type of leasing arrangement with a local government for the purpose of sharing the proceeds of a facility. Also, let's say the Marlins get a sweetheart deal and can garner 80% of the proceeds/revenue. Who is going to sign up to only get 20% of the revenue generated? Business wise this makes no sense.

 

Let's just call this a foul tip, your still "alive" with an 0-2 count.

 

Finally, you suggest that three counties get together to build one facility? You're talking about three counties that have NO history of EVER working together for a common good! You expect a Palm Beach resident to pay a 1% surtax for the construction of a facility in Miami-Dade, or a Miami-Dade resident to pay a 1% surtax for the construction of a facility in Broward County? To be honest, there is a better chance of me having a menage-a-trois with Jennifer Garner and Adriana Lima, while Laetitia Casta is in my kitchen making me a sandwich and Salma Hayek is mowing my lawn than THAT ever happening!

 

So, that's STRIKE THREE! YOU'RE OUT!!!!!!!

 

That's just my professional opinion, and only done with very little in-depth research (local government taxation is not my forte, my training is land use/development/real estate). But most of you here already know that!

^ Why don't you spend your time trying to help instead of making elaborate posts where you sound like a bitch.

 

Seriously, think of something better to replace what you percieve as someone else's bad idea instead of just shooting things down.

^ Why don't you spend your time trying to help instead of making elaborate posts where you sound like a bitch.

 

Seriously, think of something better to replace what you percieve as someone else's bad idea instead of just shooting things down.

 

 

Help by doing what, coming up with some hairbrained scheme or signing just another stupid petition that means nothing?!?!?!?

 

No thank you. I'll "help" the only way I know I can, by going to the games when the season starts. That is ALL I can do.

 

Further, I'm just trying to educate some of you to the point where perhaps you can figure out what the hell is going on or why things just don't happen so that you know instead of there being another 100 posts on how our politicians are stupid or the front office doesn't care.

 

Finally, most of the people on this board know that I care about this team and know people that are MUCH closer to what's going on than any of you can even pretend to know. So don't come on here and tell me to think of something better!

How many signatures would we need? We can do this at the stadium.