Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins is spearheading a major push for a $450 million general obligation bond to overhaul the city’s “critically deteriorating” public safety facilities, a significant early initiative for the new mayor.
The proposal, named “Safe and Ready Miami,” aims to fund comprehensive repairs, modernizations, and new construction for the city’s aging police and fire department infrastructure. Next week, the Miami City Commission will vote on whether to place the bond issue before voters on the August ballot.
Mayor Higgins, who took office in December, said a tour of the city’s public safety buildings revealed the urgency of the situation. She described shocking conditions including leaky roofs, pervasive mold, and plumbing failures so severe that some facilities rely on portable toilets. The proposal includes building a new headquarters for the Miami Police Department and constructing three new fire stations. Similar issues have surfaced in San Francisco, where a new fund aims to boost small businesses.
By seeking a general obligation bond, the city would gain voter permission to borrow the $450 million on the municipal bond market. The debt would be repaid using revenue from property taxes. However, Mayor Higgins has stressed that her plan is structured to avoid a tax rate increase for residents.
A headquarters bursting at the seams
A primary objective of the bond is to replace the downtown Miami Police Department headquarters, a 1976 building suffering from what the proposal calls “decades of deferred maintenance.” Originally designed for about 560 officers, the facility now accommodates nearly 1,400 sworn personnel and 400 professional staff members, straining its resources far beyond capacity.
We need to fix this situation. We can’t wait. I can’t have employees working in these kind of conditions, particularly the people who literally will save your grandmother’s life when she has a heart attack.
According to the mayor, the building’s problems are extensive. “There’s no running water on the bottom floor, the showers don’t work,” Higgins said. “There are stories of sewage running through parts of the building. Windows are leaking. There’s water intrusion everywhere.” She described instances where employees conducting investigations on the third floor have had to deal with rain leaking onto their desks.
The proposal highlights outdated electrical systems and persistent roof leaks that have trapped the city in a “cycle of frequent and costly emergency repairs” for a building that has outlived its usefulness. These conditions not only affect morale but also limit the department's ability to expand and implement modern policing operations.
A potential site for the new police headquarters has been identified at the Miami Freedom Park, which is also slated to be the future home of Miami City Hall. A decision on the location is pending the results of a traffic analysis. Mayor Higgins noted that selling the current, dilapidated headquarters could generate funds to purchase new vehicles for the city's fire, police, and sanitation departments.
Aging fire stations impacting readiness
The city’s fire-rescue capabilities are also being hampered by outdated infrastructure. The “Safe and Ready Miami” bond proposes the construction of three new fire stations to address the problem.
Of Miami’s 17 fire stations, eight are over 50 years old, and two have been in service for more than six decades. These older stations were not designed to accommodate modern fire engines and ambulances, which are significantly larger than their predecessors. This has forced Miami Fire-Rescue to store essential equipment outdoors or at other stations, a practice that can negatively impact readiness and response times in emergencies.
Furthermore, the firefighter training center is housed in a 100-year-old building that has experienced what the city calls “severe and persistent plumbing failures,” necessitating the permanent use of portable bathrooms to remain operational. “It would just be complete negligence to not do this,” Higgins said of the bond proposal. “We have to do this. We cannot continue in this fashion.”
Political support and past precedents
The initiative has already garnered support within the city commission. District 3 Commissioner Rolando Escalona, who recently replaced longtime commissioner Joe Carollo, has signed on as a co-sponsor. “This bond is an investment that reflects my commitment to making public safety a top priority,” Escalona said in a statement. He added it is “not only critical for supporting our first responders, but for protecting our residents and improving response times.”
This proposal comes nine years after Miami voters approved the $400 million Miami Forever Bond, an initiative championed by former Mayor Tomás Regalado to fund projects related to sea-level rise and affordable housing. That bond’s passage suggests a willingness among Miami residents to support significant public investment, although the city has faced scrutiny over the pace of those projects. Similar large-scale civic funding initiatives have been seen in other major cities, such as the San Francisco fund launched to boost its downtown small businesses.
If the commission approves the measure next week, voters will be asked the following question on the August ballot: “To enhance citywide public safety by improving critically deteriorating facilities for firefighters and paramedics through renovations, modernizations, and new construction, and by building a modern, mission-ready public safety headquarters for police and first responders, shall the City of Miami issue $450 million in General Obligation Bonds, within maximum lawful interest rates, payable from ad valorem taxes, with no increase to the current capital projects debt millage rate (0.5935), and an independent annual audit?” The result of the commission's vote will be the first major test of Mayor Higgins's agenda and her ability to rally support for ambitious, long-term civic projects.
