Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins has proposed a $450 million general obligation bond to repair and replace aging public safety facilities in the city, with the Miami City Commission set to vote next week on sending it to voters in August.
Higgins announced the proposal on Wednesday under the name Safe and Ready Miami.
The bond would fund renovations, modernizations, and new construction for police and fire facilities.
Higgins said the need became clear after she toured public safety buildings and found leaky roofs, mold, failed plumbing, and poor living conditions for firefighters working 24-hour shifts.
She told the Miami Herald: “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.”
Higgins said the bond would give the city authority to borrow money on the municipal bond market using property taxes.
She said the proposal would not raise taxes for Miami residents.
“Nothing will be any more than people pay today,” Higgins said.
“But in order to add these projects, we need to ask the voters’ permission.”
According to the legislation described in the report, one of the main goals is to replace the downtown Miami Police Department headquarters.
The 1976 building was designed for about 560 officers and now serves nearly 1,400 sworn personnel and 400 professional staff.
The proposal states that deferred maintenance, leaking roofs, and outdated electrical systems have left the facility in frequent emergency repair cycles.
Higgins said police employees can be working at their desks when rain enters the building.
She said there is no running water on the bottom floor, the showers do not work, and sewage has run through parts of the building.
The proposal states that a new police headquarters could be built at Miami Freedom Park, subject to the results of a traffic study analysis already directed by the City Commission in late 2025.
Higgins said selling the current police facility could free funds to buy new vehicles for fire, police, and sanitation.
The report said the bond proposal also includes three new fire stations and work across the city’s existing fire network.
Of Miami’s 17 fire stations, eight were built more than 50 years ago and two were built more than 60 years ago.
The legislation states that larger modern fire engines and ambulances no longer fit existing station layouts, leading Miami Fire-Rescue to store equipment outside or at distant stations.
The firefighter training center is described as a 100-year-old building with plumbing failures so severe that portable bathrooms have been needed to keep it operating.
Higgins said: “It would just be complete negligence to not do this.
” … We have to do this.
“We cannot continue in this fashion.”
District 3 Commissioner Rolando Escalona, a co-sponsor of the item, said the bond reflects his commitment to public safety and would support first responders, protect residents, and improve response times.
The proposed ballot question asks voters whether Miami should issue $450 million in general obligation bonds, payable from ad valorem taxes, with no increase to the current capital projects debt millage rate of 0.5935 and an independent annual audit.
