At stake is $500,000 in taxes that the Florida Department of Revenue believes is being improperly charged to downtown Miami property owners.

The reason: The governing body of the Downtown Development Authority, the Miami City Commission, did not unanimously approve a special property tax charged to downtown property owners. Instead, it passed the measure with a 4-0 vote in March. Commissioner Tomas Regalado was absent during that vote.

“If you do not choose to remedy the noncompliance, the Department will finalize its determination that the requirement for a vote by the full membership of the governing body was not met and report such determination to the Legislature,” Lisa Echeverri, executive director of the Department of Revenue, wrote in a Dec. 24 letter to the city of Miami.

Neisen Kasdin, the vice chair of the DDA, said the money has already been earmarked within the organization’s $6.8 million budget. “It puts more money out on the street,” he said.

The Department of Revenue also believes that the DDA, created to promote economic development in downtown Miami, is an “independent special district,” meaning its special assessment needs to be approved unanimously by its 15-member board.

Commissioner and DDA Chair Joe Sanchez said it is impossible for any budget to be approved by the DDA under such an interpretation. “We can’t comply with this Florida statute,” he said.

But Commissioner Tomas Regalado did not understand why the city would use its resources to deprive downtown Miami taxpayers of a refund. “If the city loses, the property owners get back $500,000,” he said.

Assistant City Attorney Veronica Xiques replied that Florida statutes were unclear on the definition of “unanimous,” as well as what would happen to the funds if the state rules that the DDA is not entitled to them.