Area: Miami-Dade County
Population: 2,253,387
Budget: total 2,295,750 bonds over 15-20 years
Resolution 8 Budget: 552,692,000
Use: libraries, cultural, education, community.
In November of 2004 tax payers in Florida approved a bond issue by a 2 to 1 margin that includes funding for the arts without raising any taxes.
While the arts component of this bill will only receive about 15% of the revenue, the needs that were identified are very specific. The people responsible for this bond issue knew through constant research efforts what programs would best help their community.
The legislation was also successful in tying the Arts to the rejuvenation of a city and the ability to increase tourism. Miami like many cities throughout the United States is rich in culture and was able to make the case that this funding would enable the city to promote their cultural offerings to potential visitors.
From the beginning, this campaign used polling to gauge the public interest in the policy. Additionally, Spanish translators allowed for their message to be received by the large spanish speaking segment of the county. All citizens in the community were considered stakeholders because the policy aimed to act as a vehicle to improve conditions for the entire community.
This bond issue was one of eight that was placed at the end of a long and extensive 2004 ballot. The ballot included a presidential election, and contested races for the Senate and Mayor's office. This bond faced the challenge of voter fatigue or apathy. This caused real concern as a potential threat to the success of the initiative. The proponents of this bill teamed with the other seven bond questions to form a campaign titled "eight more reasons to vote on November 2nd." This allowed all eight policies to concentrate their resources in order to get the citizens to vote on the important policy issues.
Timing played a key role in the implementation of this bond issue. First, a similar bond passed in 1972 was set to be paid off at the same time that the new 2004 bond was proposed to begin. This meant that the city would be trading in an old debt for a new one. Secondly, the county held 100 town meetings beginning a year before the election. These town meetings gave citizens the opportunity to voice their opinions for needs to be addressed. The county gathered information pertaining to projects that the bond would fund. Finally, an ad campaign went out six weeks prior to the election to increase awareness and voter turn-out.
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