More than three years ago, former Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of financial emergency in Opa-locka and appointed a board to oversee the city’s spending. Now, with the board still in place and no end to the crisis in sight, some state lawmakers say it’s time for the city to shut itself down.
Only the residents of Opa-locka have the power to dissolve the city under Miami-Dade County’s home rule charter. But the state’s Joint Legislative Auditing Committee — which received a scathing report about Opa-locka from the Auditor General in June that cited 99 issues of fraud and mismanagement — is pushing for legislation that would force a vote on dissolution on residents of any municipality under certain circumstances.
In an Oct. 31 letter to the chairs of three other legislative committees, the auditing committee asked colleagues to draft a bill that would outline criteria to trigger a municipal vote on dissolution.
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