Voters To Decide Whether Courthouse Updates Are Worth Tax Increase
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Voters will have to decide whether they will pay more in taxes to help repair the Dade County Courthouse that has stood at 73 W. Flagler Street for nearly 90 years and add a new courthouse.
The costs would add up to approximately $393 million. Of that, $25 million would be used for the repairs needed for the old courthouse.
Petra Puryer works in the courthouse that was built in 1928. She hopes voters will vote "yes".
"At first, you don't think about it because you're not feeling anything, you are coming in to an old building, but when you start getting sick it's scary its terrifying and immediately you want it rectified," Puryer said.
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She began working at the courthouse three-years ago and soon after she became sick.
"Hard to breathe, coughing all the time, it got to a point one day I could barely breath," she added. "I told my boss and went to the doctor. They put me immediately on a respirator. I was having a break down in my lung."
Puryer said she developed a bacterial pneumonia aggravated by mold that had been growing inside the Dade County courthouse for years she was moved to another building, but the long list of problems the historic building was dealing were not going away.
The 25th floor has been closed for several years because of the condition of the walls. Mold and algae were discovered beneath the terracotta, drywall and plaster.
In addition to the walls, the roof has leaks and the basement has flooded leading to paper files getting wet.
It's estimated that 92 percent of the support columns are corroded.
Judge Jennifer Bailey and Chief Judge Bertila Soto are among the judges encouraging voters to decide on the building's fate.
The repairs would come at a cost. In order to pay for them, property taxes would be raised which would add up to no more than $14 a year.
Election day is Tuesday, November 4.
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