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ORDINANCE RELATING TO SPECIAL TAXING DISTRICTS; AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 18-12; DELAYING BY AN ADDITIONAL PERIOD OF TIME THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE CERTAIN NOTICE TO BUYERS OF REAL PROPERTY; ALLOWING FOR ADDITIONAL DELAYS BY RESOLUTION; DIRECTING THE COUNTY MAYOR OR COUNTY MAYOR�S DESIGNEE TO PROVIDE NOTICE OF THE ENACTMENT OF THIS ORDINANCE TO REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY; PROVIDING SEVERABILITY; EXCLUSION FROM THE CODE; AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE

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WHEREAS, this Board has the exclusive authority to approve the establishment of special taxing districts within the boundaries of Miami-Dade County (�County�) pursuant to Section 1.01 (A) (11) of the County�s Home Rule Charter and Chapter 18 of the Code of Miami-Dade County, Florida; and
WHEREAS, this Board recognizes that there is a need to provide adequate and full disclosure about special taxing districts, including the requirement to pay annual assessments, to all potential purchasers of real property located within a special taxing district prior to the final sale of the real property; and
WHEREAS, by the enactment of the original version of section 18-20.2 of the Code, this Board previously required developers of new residential property located within a special taxing district to disclose the existence of a special taxing district within the real estate contract; and
WHEREAS, these requirements did not provide adequate notice to subsequent purchasers of real property that a property is subject to the payment of an annual assessment for the improvements or services provided by a special taxing district; and
WHEREAS, this Board wishes to avoid the potential hardship to property owners who acquire property without knowing that it is subject to such annual assessments; and
WHEREAS, for this reason, this Board, on February 6, 2018, enacted Miami-Dade County Ordinance No. 18-12 (�Ordinance No. 18-12�), amending section 18-20.2 of the Code by requiring notice to all buyers of real property that the property being acquired is located within a special taxing district, in order to ensure that such buyers are on notice of the actual costs of owning the property; and
WHEREAS, the implementation of Ordinance No. 18-12 was delayed by 90 days from the effective date of Ordinance No. 18-12, to allow for the real estate industry to prepare to follow its provisions; and
WHEREAS, numerous members of the real estate industry have contacted County staff to express additional ideas regarding different ways to achieve the goal of providing notice to buyers of property within special taxing districts without requiring the buyer�s signature on the instrument conveying title; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interests of County residents to briefly delay the implementation of Ordinance No. 18-12 an additional ninety days, to allow for County staff to meet with real estate industry professionals to explore different and/or better methods for providing such notice,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA:
Section 1. Section 3 of Ordinance No. 18-12 is amended to provide that the provisions of section 2 of Ordinance No. 18-12 shall not be implemented or take effect until 90 days from the effective date of this ordinance.
Section 2. If further delays in the implementation of Ordinance 18-12 are warranted, this Board may provide for such delays by resolution.
Section 3. In order to promote awareness of the additional delay in the implementation of Ordinance 18-12, the County Mayor or County Mayor�s designee shall provide notice of the enactment of this ordinance to the real estate industry, including, but not limited to: Florida Association of Realtors, the Miami Association of Realtors, the Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section of the Florida Bar, and local real property title insurance companies.
Section 4. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or provision of this ordinance is held invalid, the remainder of this ordinance shall not be affected by such invalidity.
Section 5. It is the intention of this Board, and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of this ordinance, shall be excluded from the Code of Miami-Dade County.�
Section 6. This ordinance shall become effective 10 days after the date of enactment unless vetoed by the Mayor, and if vetoed, shall become effective only upon an override by this Board.