Two newly-elected commissioners led the charge as the city of Miami passed a new budget that includes a cut in taxes of $25 million. The move came after the state of Florida declared that Miami had been operating with an illegal budget since October.
The state said the September budget was illegal because it was passed with only four out of the five votes needed to set the tax rate. At the time, the commission was missing a vote from Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla, who was suspended after being arrested on charges of corruption.
If the issue remained unresolved, the city would have incurred a penalty that could cost $56 million.
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In their first meeting on Monday night, commissioners Miguel Gabela and Damian Pardo — who were elected in November to represent districts 1 and 2 respectively — pushed for the commission to cut the tax rate to reduce spending by $25 million as part of the new vote.
"When we make the wrong judgment call and it doesn’t go our way, there are simply consequences to making the wrong judgment call. That’s true everywhere in the world and it’s also true in government. We are sitting here today because of this dysfunction. This is not how a normal situation should roll out," Pardo said.
Commissioner Joe Carollo, who was found liable this summer in a federal 'harassment' case, warned the tax cut could hurt the city.
"I will tell you the first thing that’s gonna happen is you’re gonna send the bond markets with major concerns," Carollo said.
Instead, Carollo suggested that city attorney Victoria Méndez sue the state to fight the determination that the previous budget was illegal. Méndez is facing a vote on Thursday where she could possibly be terminated from the job — partly because she greenlit that illegal budget.
The commission passed the new budget in a 4 -1 vote. Carollo was the only commissioner to vote against the new tax rate. He took an all-or-nothing approach, saying that either the former budget and tax rate should largely be left intact, or that up to $60 million in taxes should be cut. But nothing in between.
"If we're gonna have a bonfire let's have a big one," he said.
City commissioners said the cut will initially come from a miscellaneous account, while administrators work on a line-by-line plan to reduce spending.
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