"The $74.1 million was one of the largest CDD bond issuances in South Florida in recent years. For Miami Worldcenter, the CDD bonds will fund street improvements, modernized mass transit stations, new landscaping, widened sidewalks, more water and sewer capacity, electrical work, and new street lights. Located on the north side of downtown Miami, the $2 billion Miami Worldcenter will include condos, apartments, retail, restaurants, and a hotel/convention center."
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Florida has hundreds of these multiple-function special districts that are the building industry's new substitute for cities. Special districts like this can issue bonds and do most of the things that municipalities can do, but they don't have to operate on the one person, one vote principle. They can allocate voting control on the basis of property ownership. That way developers can make all the decisions for the district as long as they control most of the acreage, which might be forever. That comes in handy. Imagine that the subdivision has the same boundaries as the special district. If you buy a home in the subdivision, you are a taxpayer for the district and there is a line on your property tax bill for the amount you pay to the district. Developers have been known to make nice deals with themselves before they sell any of the lots. They have the district they control purchase the common elements from themselves (as owner of all the property in the subdivision). Then tens of millions of dollars from the bond sale goes straight into the developer's pocket, and the bondholders get paid off over the next few decades from the property taxes paid by the residents of the district, who are none other than the people who buy the units in the subdivision.
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