On November 6, 2018, the electorate of the City of Miami Beach approved the issuance of $439,000,000 of general obligation bonds, consisting of (i) $169,000,000 for parks, recreational facilities, and cultural facilities, (ii) $198,000,000 for neighborhoods and infrastructure, and (iii) $72,000,000 for police, fire, public safety, and security improvements.
As the overall $439 million General Obligation Bond (GOB) program will be implemented over a period of approximately 10 to 12 years, rather than all at once, the City anticipates issuing tranches every 3 years. At this time, 4 funding tranches are anticipated as follows: $150 million in FY 2019, $100 million in FY 2022, $100 million in FY 2025, and $89 million in FY 2028. Necessary millage rate increases will be gradually phased to cover the debt service costs associated with the bond issuances.
Following approval of the $439 million bond program in November, the City Manager transitioned Maria Hernandez and her team from project management of the Miami Beach Convention Center campus project to the program management of the GOB program. To help create a proposed project implementation plan, a GOB Working Group was created and presented to the City Commission on December 10th. The group is comprised of Maria Hernandez, Program Director, Eric Carpenter, Assistant City Manager, John Woodruff, CFO, and Alex Denis, Procurement Director. This team met several times with implementing departments to program the 57 projects over a 10 to 12 year period using various criteria. A final draft of the proposed project implementation plan is being developed and will be shared with the new GOB Oversight Committee for its review.
In January 2019, the Mayor and City Commission created a GOB Committee consisting of 11 residents to make advisory recommendations from a macro-perspective regarding the timely progress, overall goals, costs, including financial efficiencies, and the timely completion of the GOB projects. The GOB Committee is holding weekly meetings between January and February primarily to review and validate the proposed project implementation plan. This plan divides the $439 million in bonds and 57 projects between the 4 tranches of $150 million in FY 2019, $100 million in FY 2022, $100 million in FY 2025, and $89 million in FY 2028. The Mayor and City Commission will review the GOB Oversight Committee recommendations at a GOB workshop scheduled for March 4, 2019. At the City Commission meeting on March 13, 2019 final decisions regarding the first tranche of $150 million will need to be made in order to issue bonds as planned in April 2019.
Once the overall project implementation plan is finalized, the GOB Oversight Committee will meet monthly to ensure that the projects approved by our community are completed as approved, in a timely manner, and on budget. Additional information will be available on the www.GOMB2018.com website by January 31st.