North Beach, Miami Beach

North Beach CRA: Questions to Ask on Nov. 10

The North Beach Community Redevelopment Agency is writing a five-year plan for about $3.4 million a year in North Beach property tax money. These are questions its own budgets, audit and presentations raise but don't answer. Bring them, ask them, and write down the answers.

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. North Beach CRA Advisory Committee, Normandy Shores Golf Club, 2401 Biarritz Drive (map). The consultants present first, then an open house where residents can talk with staff and share priorities. The city says public comment is strongly encouraged.

The money

In the year that ended Sept. 30, 2025, the agency planned to spend $1.18 million on administration, projects and services. It spent $569,351, less than half, and ended the year with $4.57 million in its funds.

Budget line, fiscal 2025PlannedSpent
Policing$239,000$229,000
Code compliance$130,000$79,000
Arts and culture$175,000$65,000
Facade and home grants$342,000$22,000
Small business grants$97,000$2,000

Source: the agency's fiscal 2025 year-end budget amendment.

  1. The audit says most of last year's spending paid the city for managerial and administrative services. How much went to the city, and for what?
  2. Policing used almost all its budget. Grants for homeowners and small businesses used about 5%. Why the difference?
  3. How many facade, home and small business grants have been paid since the programs began, and for how much?
  4. The agency has $4.57 million on hand. What is it for, and when will it be spent?

The projects

The October presentation lists a $1.5 million schoolyard and $100,000 in shade sails at Normandy Fountain as "investments so far." The audit shows the money was set aside in April 2025, but nothing was spent from that fund by Sept. 30, 2025.

  1. What has been spent on the schoolyard and the shade sails, and when will each be built?
  2. The presentation calls it the North Beach Elementary schoolyard. The budget and audit say Biscayne Elementary. Which school is it?
  3. The presentation says the home grant program has no clients yet. The agency's 2026 work plan listed 11 applicants in progress. What happened to those applications?

The plan

The consultants writing the plan are Daedalus Advisory Services, able.city and Redevelopment Management Associates. Daedalus and RMA also helped write the agency's 2021 plan, which lists projects totaling $409 million.

  1. What is the consultants' contract worth, and how was it awarded? A 2024 work plan budgeted $65,000 for a strategic plan. Why did it take until late 2026?
  2. The presentation says the agency's money can't pay for festivals, marketing or public art. The 2021 plan calls for all three, and the agency has paid for festival art and budgeted $242,000 for arts, branding and marketing this year. Which is right, and will that spending stop?
  3. The presentation raises borrowing against future tax money. Will the agency propose a bond? How much, for which projects, and who repays it if the money falls short?
  4. When will the plan go to the CRA board, and can residents comment before it's adopted?
  5. How will what residents say tonight change the plan, and where can we see it?

Where these numbers come from

Every figure comes from the agency's own public records, all posted on the city's North Beach CRA page. Read them yourself:

Printable one-page version (PDF)
Figures as of Nov. 2, 2026. Fiscal 2025 ran Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025.