Last week, the Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution to establish a Public Private Partnership Program for the County.

The Resolution states that "it is in the best interest of the County to work collaboratively" with private investors and organizations to establish and implement alternative financing methods for appropriate projects.

The resolution was sponsored by recently elected Commissioner Juan Zapata, who explained at the June 13 meeting of the Economic Development and Port Miami Committee that the resolution is intended to align County P3 regulations with the newly adopted state statute and to create a roadmap to establish P3s in the County.  The Economic Development and Port Miami Committee unanimously recommended the resolution for adoption.

Pursuant to the new resolution, the Mayor is charged with creating a written P3 plan within 90 days of the effective date of the resolution. The plan will be submitted to the Infrastructure Committee for review and approval and, after the initial plan is approved, the plan will be updated and resubmitted to the Committee every six months.

On June 27th, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a bill into law that gives counties, municipalities, school boards and other political subdivisions in the state authority to enter into public-private partnership (P3) agreements for facilities that "serve a public purpose."