Miami-Dade County Commission Budget Workshop - August 20, 2025
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Miami-Dade County Commission Committee of the Whole Budget Workshop - August 20, 2025
The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners convened as a Committee of the Whole on August 20, 2025, at 9:30 AM in the Commission Chambers. The meeting was a working session focused on the Mayor's proposed Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget, which faces a $402 million shortfall. No formal votes were taken, but the board discussed numerous proposals, received presentations from constitutional officers, and identified areas for potential savings and reallocations. The meeting lasted over five hours, concluding after 2:15 PM.
Presentations
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Mayor's Administration: Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Morales presented an update, noting that an additional $66 million had been identified through collaboration with the tax collector ($26 million), other constitutional officers ($33 million in unspent funds), and departmental adjustments ($6+ million). Proposed adjustments include: $7.5 million for public safety, $11.5 million for cultural arts, $18.4 million for community-based organizations (CBOs) (restoring approximately 50% of cuts), full restoration of parks programming and elimination of new parking fees, $4.4 million for sidewalks and pothole repair, $400,000 for senior centers, a reduction of the STS fare increase from $0.75 to $0.25, a reduction of the gas tax increase from 2 cents to 1 cent, and $12.5 million for county reserves.
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Property Appraiser Tom Alala: Announced that his office is returning $9.2 million in savings and recommended that the funds be used to fully fund the Save Our Seniors program.
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Sheriff Rosie: Presented a detailed request for $93.8 million above the current year's budget. She explained that $63 million of that is for pre-existing collective bargaining agreements (committed before the Sheriff's Office existed), leaving a true need of $30.7 million for academy classes (to maintain current deputy levels), civilian hires, expired protective equipment, and rebranding costs. She noted that the national average of sworn officers per 1,000 residents is 3.5, but Miami-Dade is at 2.5, and she faces 260 vacancies by summer 2026 without additional funding. She stated she would be comfortable returning $7.5 million in unspent funds, with a potential upside of $10.3 million.
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Commissioner Regalado (Appropriations Chair): Presented a comprehensive analysis titled "Building a Lean County Budget," identifying systemic issues and potential savings in departments including Corrections, Fire Rescue, Medical Examiner, Parks, IT, Transportation, and Community Services. She highlighted overlapping contracts, excessive overtime, bloated budgets for items like paper trays and uniforms, and the need for return on investment (ROI) metrics for CBO grants. She also noted that the county subsidizes cremation services that are not legally required, and recommended increasing fees for park shelter rentals and charging for Metro Mover.
Discussion Items
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Health Care Funding: Chair Rodriguez and Commissioner Regalado questioned the per-employee health care allocation ($19,200) and whether the new insurance contract (savings of ~4%) would be reflected in the current budget. OMB Director Clodfelter explained that the savings would go toward the health care trust fund reserves and future rate reductions, not the current year's budget.
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Vacant Positions: A discrepancy arose between OMB and the Commission Auditor regarding the number of funded vacant general fund positions. Commissioner Gonzalez pressed for clarity, with OMB stating that general fund vacancies were unfunded, while the Auditor indicated about 1,400 general fund positions were still funded. It was agreed to reconcile the data.
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Fire Rescue Funding: Discussion centered on the transfer of air rescue costs from countywide to the fire district, which could impact the district's ability to open new units. Fire Chief Ray Jadala noted that the department has placed 6 new units in service this year and that 13 geographical gaps have been identified, but land acquisition is expensive and slow. The union president argued that the district needs over three dozen additional units to meet national response time standards.
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Transportation: Several commissioners supported charging for Metro Mover (currently free) to generate revenue and create consistency with other transit services. Commissioner Higgins recommended a two-tier system with free transfers from other modes. Discussion also covered Metro Connect on-demand service; the mayor's administration is exploring lower-cost alternatives (e.g., $2.5 million instead of $11 million) and potential fare structures.
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Community-Based Organizations (CBOs): Multiple commissioners emphasized the need for dedicated, recurring funding for CBOs. Vice Chair Kionimagé proposed creating a CBO trust fund funded by a percentage fee on contracts (similar to the UAP fee). The procurement director noted that the current UAP fee (2%) generates $20.5 million annually; doubling it could fund a $20 million trust fund. Commissioner Regalado stressed the need for ROI metrics and accountability for all CBO grants.
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Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery: Commissioner Hardeman urged the board to open the long-delayed facility, noting it could save $5 million annually by diverting mentally ill inmates from jail. Several commissioners, including Regalado and Garcia, expressed concerns about long-term costs and governance, agreeing to a sunshine meeting to resolve differences.
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Other Items: Commissioner Hardeman raised concerns about the use of FTX bankruptcy proceeds ($3.2 million) being swept from the Peace and Prosperity Plan. Commissioner Higgins expressed frustration over delays in the Miami-Dade County Auditorium renovation. Commissioner Gilbert criticized the funding of the Underline (SMART Plan) operations and maintenance, arguing that the county should not be subsidizing private park operations indefinitely.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken, but the board reached consensus on several directives to be included in a change memo before the first budget hearing on September 4, 2025.
- The administration will provide additional data on: vacant position funding, corrections savings (uniforms, meals, overtime), fire rescue capital plans and impact fee updates, parks fee structures, and transportation alternatives.
- Commissioner Regalado will schedule a virtual sunshine meeting on enterprise funds (water, waste) before September 4.
- The administration will explore creating a dedicated CBO trust fund and a framework for ROI metrics.
- A sunshine meeting on the Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery will be scheduled.
- The board will continue budget discussions at the September 4 and September 18 public hearings.
Meeting Transcript
The clerk's office has received notification that Commissioner Bermude will be late, will be out today. The clerk's office has received notification that Commissioner Bermudis will be absent today, and that Commissioner Milian Orbis will be late. Commissioner Bastien. So we will begin. Nothing like having somebody lead the way for you. If you can all bow your heads for me. As a matter of fact, Mr. Prem, Mr. Chairman, we all got something in common. We both married up. There you go. Heavenly Father, we lift up Miami D County before you during this season of decisions and deliberations. Bless our leaders with wisdom, clarity, and compassion as they weigh the choices that will shape the future of our camp community. Grant them the courage to put people above politics, service above self, and fairness above fear. We pray for the residents, families, children, seniors, and workers who depend on these resources. Protect them, provide for them, and remind them that their voices matter. Let no one be forgotten, especially the most vulnerable among us. We ask for all these in your name. Amen. Now for the pledge. All right. Thank you all for being here again, our second time this month on our supposed off month of the year. But obviously, this is very important. And the uh budget uh deficit that has been outlined is something that we are responsible to balance and make sure that we figure it out and protect our residents. So I just kind of want to set a few of recap why we're here, what we're doing, and how we're gonna do this, and what my intent for today is. So the intent for today and what it has always been, and in conversations with uh here lastly with our appropriations chair and obviously with all of you guys as well. Is this workshop is intended to actually like get business done. This isn't optics, this isn't we're not taking a vote today, we're not uh it's not a public hearing today. I think most know because I've gotten text messages of people knowing that they're here to support and uh represent, but they know that they're not here to speak today. Uh but we're supposed to get our hands dirty today and and figure out how we can uh best suit this budget and and work with the administration so that come September 4th uh when it's time to vote. We are we're well on our way. Uh a few things and kind of the order of uh of the day. Um at some point I'm gonna recognize our mayor and the administration for a quick intro to the most recent uh updates to our budget. Uh following that, I will recognize uh our constitutional officer, sheriff uh Rosie, who I see already is here today, and she will uh have some time to present. Uh I understand that it is not on the agenda, but I understand that our property appraiser may be arriving soon, and he's here. All right, so our property appraiser Tomara will follow the sheriff uh with a with a much briefer uh but uh quick comments, and then after that, I'm gonna recognize our appropriations chair uh Regalado to give a a presentation on she's done a deep dive with our commission otter with the departments with our administration on our on the proposed budget and has identified several details in addition to several questions that that this board and then we'll open it up for every commissioner to engage and do a back and forth ebb and flowing uh style conversation. I I think by now everyone has seen several memos over the last couple weeks, but one of the memos uh that I sent to the administration in collaboration with our tax collector uh on the 26 million dollars. That was the first one of I guess not official change memos, but uh suggestions. Uh and that establishes at least a uh a uh uh step in the right direction for for, in fact, a lot of what the advocacy here today is whether it's cultural arts, our uh CBOs or nonprofits, uh, our parks, uh, and that which I understand, at least in this iteration, we obviously still have to take a vote, but that gets taken care of, and no no fees will be added in at least in the proposed back and forth uh memos that that we've seen. Again, none of that has been voted on yet by this board, but it is it is sure the surely the the idea. And then we just saw a most recent memo yesterday from the administration, which I'm sure we'll be discussing uh in further detail today, uh, which further uh amplifies and further makes some of those brackets whole. I want to state and say for the record that we as a board as a commission are putting our money where our mouth is. We're not just asking the mayor to to uh to figure this out. We are getting our hands dirty, we're rolling up our sleeves and doing it ourselves. Ourselves here at the Board of County Commissioners have uh have shaved off over well over a million dollars uh that we have given back to to the budget uh by reducing staff, by reducing vacancies. So we're not just asking the mayor to do it, we have done it as well, and we'll continue to look at it through our September meetings. Uh again, I want to thank the mayor, appreciate your collaboration, going back and forth and uh our chair Regalado for for all the time that you've spent and your team's time and my team's time and everyone that has really dug in. So, with that, um I hope I haven't missed anything that I needed to say for Grand Rules. Please silence your phones. We are trying to actually get work done, so we would like as little interruption as possible.
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