Facing Miami-Dade County’s most severe budget shortfall since the 2008 financial crisis, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava launched a series of town halls this past weekend. With a projected $387 million deficit looming over next year’s $3.6 billion general fund, the mayor told residents that the time for hard decisions — and community input — is now.
“We are in a perfect storm,” Levine Cava said on Saturday at North Dade Regional Library.
“We weathered the COVID storm. We came out stronger than ever, and we are confident we're going to weather this one too. But we do have very difficult decisions ahead, so we wanted to bring the community into the conversation,” she added.
Understanding the budget
The county’s $12.7 billion overall budget includes $8 billion in operating costs and $4.7 billion in capital projects. Roughly half of the operating budget is “proprietary” funding — dedicated to revenue sources such as the airport, seaport, water and sewer services, which cannot be used for general services.
The projected $387 million budget shortfall impacts Miami-Dade County’s general fund — the tax-supported portion that makes up 48% of the operating budget and covers essential services such as police, jails, transit, libraries and parks.
“We’re limited in how we can spend this money,” Levine Cava explained. “Some are proprietary or fee-based. We can't just take from them. Others are tax-supported, and we can't take from them to fund other things.”
The county must close the gap before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
How we got here
Levine Cava said the current crisis has roots in her first year as mayor during the COVID-19 pandemic. Property values soared, and federal relief poured in — over $1 billion in aid helped the county stabilize, allowing for two modest property tax cuts.
“As we started to come out of the pandemic, people moved here in droves,” she recalled. “Prices shot up. The cost of living went sky high. And we understood that people were struggling in that new economy.”
In response, she declared an “affordability crisis” and boosted investments in housing and wage support. But with inflation rising and federal aid gone, the county must now fund a growing list of obligations without past surpluses.
Headwinds
Levine Cava attributes the deficit to overspending and structural changes, including a 2018 state constitutional amendment that turned three county departments — Elections, the Tax Collector’s Office, and the former Miami-Dade Police Department — into separate agencies at the beginning of this year.
“They have financial needs to establish those offices, and in some cases, they're ramping up services and wanting more money to support those services,” Levine Cava said. “Those things are very general drivers of our expenses because all of these five offices, the money comes from the same pot, Miami-Dade County.”
Constitutional offices may submit additional funding requests for county approval. Those requests could increase the deficit by another $86.3 million in the next fiscal year, raising it to $473 million.
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The sheriff's office, for example, is seeking $956 million — $100 million more than the previous year.
Further complicating matters is uncertainty surrounding the Tax Collector’s Office, which now deducts 2% of revenue before distributing funds to the county.
“We don’t know whether (Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez) will spend all that money, and if not, it could come back to us,” Levine Cava said. “But we're trying to plan without knowing what will come back.”
But constitutional changes are only part of the equation. Levine Cava pointed out that the county is expecting less money from Washington, D.C., under the Trump Administration and will likely receive fewer dollars from Tallahassee as well.
“If they're [state lawmakers] successful in cutting either sales tax or property tax, it will directly affect our ability to provide services because we depend on those dollars,” she said.
The third challenge is the economy. Levine Cava pointed out rising costs for county operations and households. The $35 million commitment to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup will add strain, despite potential long-term benefits. Additionally, there is a projected $53 million funding gap for transit, with expenses exceeding available revenue for Metrorail, Metromover, and the bus system. The South-Dade TransitWay is expected to open this summer with a yearly operating cost of about $12 million.
”The people paying the fares do not cover the cost, so we have to use general fund dollars to pay for our transit services,” Levine Cava said.
WISE 305, not DOGE
To address the gap, Levine Cava is focusing on WISE 305, her fiscal responsibility initiative, which stands for “Workplace Initiatives, Investments in Technology, Savings for Businesses and Residents, and Efficiency.” She says she is committed to maintaining essential services like trash pickup, water and sewer, public safety, housing, roads, transit and libraries.
“We’re finding savings across departments, and we’re spending every tax dollar for maximum impact,” she said. “We’re meeting with fiscal stewardship. We’re cutting red tape.”
Measures already in place include a near-total hiring freeze; halted raises, promotions and travel; and soliciting cost-saving ideas from employees. The mayor is also upgrading systems with artificial intelligence and other digital tools, particularly in permitting and reviewing, and eliminating outdated or unnecessary policies to cut red tape.
But Levine Cava made clear that this isn’t a slash-and-burn approach. She said she is not going “to DOGE anybody,” referencing the Department of Government Efficiency.
“The way the DOGE was structured at the federal level didn't really go into evaluating what was more or less important. It was not very carefully crafted,” Levine Cava told The Miami Times. “It just cut a lot of money, and a lot of vital services disappeared. That's not what we're doing.”
Instead, she described WISE 305 as a deliberate and inclusive process.
“We’re taking time, consulting with staff, the community and the commission so we can do this in a way that has efficiency, but also does the best we can to preserve vital services.”
Community concerns
During the town hall’s public input portion, residents and advocates voiced concerns centered around housing, immigration, social services, transit and budget transparency.
Paul Christian Namphy, political director and lead organizer for the Family Action Network Movement (FANM), emphasized the need for the county budget to prioritize housing and support services for immigrant communities and working families.
“Miami-Dade is an immigrant-majority county,” Namphy told The Miami Times. “It’s important for us to uplift their dignity. In a society that's unequal, we need to make sure that everyone's taken care of.”
He warned that national trends — like tax cuts for the wealthy and shrinking public services — are putting working families at risk.
“When people walk through our doors, they need services, and we need to make sure those lifelines are kept alive and strong.”
Yvonne Hart, a resident, also listed her top priorities.
“Housing is the number one thing now… They’ve [governments] taken so much away from the county,” Hart told The Miami Times.
Sharon Frazier, a Liberty City activist, passionately spoke about the urgent need for housing support for seniors in her community.
“I’ve been trying to get help for a 79-year-old and a 78-year-old (who is) homeless,” she said, noting unanswered calls and emails to multiple county offices.
Frazier urged the county to prioritize essentials.
“Some things we need and some things we want,” she said. “I understand the budget, but this is a need.”
Residents expressed their support for public transit funds, which they believe is essential for millions of Miami-Dade residents.
“If we do not fund transit, I will likely be late to work and could be fired eventually,” said Nick, a local resident who didn’t want his last name revealed. “I’ll have to spend more on Uber, which can take 50 minutes and cost around $20 to $30.”
Not everyone was satisfied. Liberty City resident Theophilus Williams expressed skepticism.
"It’s the same old thing every year, residents not getting the proper information. Management and those who run the county are responsible for the budget, but when they get in a situation, they want to hit the taxpayer.”
What’s next?
Saturday’s event was just one in a series of early community budget sessions held before the mayor finalizes her proposal to be presented in July.
Additional town halls are scheduled for August. The County Commission will hold budget hearings on Sept. 4 and 18, during which it will adopt the final budget plan.
“We are facing difficult choices, and we need you to know that this is real,” Levine Cava said.
This story was produced by The Miami Times, one of the oldest Black-owned newspapers in the country, as part of a content sharing partnership with the WLRN newsroom. Read more at miamitimesonline.com.
