At a time when many families are struggling to make ends meet, the cost of living in Miami has emerged as a major campaign issue in next week’s mayoral election.
A recent study by the United Way of Miami found that more than 39% of all working families in Miami-Dade County are struggling to cover basic expenses – to pay for housing and healthcare, groceries, transportation and childcare. Another 15% live in poverty.
Against that backdrop, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing to reduce or eliminate property taxes statewide, and the Florida Legislature appears poised to act in 2026 with a passel of its own tax-relief proposals. One or more of those proposals could be on the ballot next year for voters to approve.
In the meantime, the Miami City Commission added its voice to the debate last week, passing a resolution “strongly” urging state lawmakers to approve a ballot measure that would deliver property tax relief to older homeowners who meet certain income limits.
READ MORE: The race for Miami mayor: Who’s the adult in the room?
The issue of affordability – especially the cost of housing – has taken center stage in recent political forums as well, where the leading candidates for Miami mayor were asked what they would do to make the city more affordable.
Four of those candidates – Eileen Higgins, Emilio Gonzalez, Ken Russell and Xavier Suarez – appeared on stage at the Arsht Center two weeks ago. Here’s what they said when asked how they would deliver economic relief and lower housing costs for Miami residents.
Miami Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins:
“The only way to solve our affordability crisis is to actually build affordable housing. One of the ways that local government can help the best is by looking at and using its own land to allow for affordable and workforce housing to be built.” Higgins said that’s something she’s done as a county commissioner.
“That needs to be done at the city. For example, let’s talk about the soccer stadium (at Freedom Park near Miami International Airport). On that entire huge piece of acreage there is not one single unit of housing. That is where the city needs to change.”
Former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez took the conversation in another direction:
“My thing is, I really want to support the governor in doing away with property taxes. We can do it. We cannot build people the homes that they want. We can talk about building affordable housing, workforce housing, fine, it is never going to meet demand,” he said.
“What we need to do is be very bold and say, you know what, if the City of Miami only gets less than 10% of its budget from ad valorum taxes (on homestead properties), let’s find 10% savings.”
Property taxes in the City of Miami represent half of all the general fund revenue the city spends to provide services like police and fire-rescue, but only a portion of those taxes – Gonzalez says 9 or 10% – comes from homestead properties. This year, the city expects to collect $650 million in property taxes. Ten percent of that is $65 million.
Two other candidates – former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell and former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez – are proposing more limited tax relief for Miami homeowners, in the form of a higher homestead exemption – the amount of a home’s value (currently $50,722) that is exempt from city property taxes, if the home is owner-occupied.
Ken Russell: “Step one, we’ve got to keep our residents in their homes. I’m proposing senior exemptions on taxes in the City of Miami, qualifying seniors who have had their homes more than 25 years, no more city taxes.”
Xavier Suarez: “My proposal on housing is very clear. Government is part of the problem, because we have a homestead exemption that is one-tenth of what the value is of a home in Miami-Dade, and in the City of Miami, which is $500,000. The median value of a home. We need to increase the homestead exemption to that amount.”
Higgins noted that most Miami families wouldn’t benefit from an increase in the homestead exemption. “We have to remember that 70% of the people who live in our city are renters, so only working on property taxes for homestead owners does not help people who are renters. We have got to make sure we are adding (affordable housing) units, particularly on city owned land.”
Higgins and Russell both said Miami’s next mayor could more effectively address the high cost of living in Miami by finding ways to reduce the city’s operating budget, so those savings could be passed along to property owners in the form of lower tax rates.
“We can set our own millage (tax rate),” Russell said. “We do that every year. That’s the big lie that Mayor (Francis) Suarez has told over and over again: your taxes are lower than they have ever been. It’s not. We pay our bills. We know.”
Higgins: “There is a deep dive that needs to be done into the budget, in the City of Miami, to find out how and where money can be saved, services can be streamlined, so whatever the decision is in Tallahassee, we can be reducing property taxes for our residents here,” Higgins said.
Suarez, the father of the current mayor, said he would expand free public transportation in Miami via the city’s trolley system to help lower expenses for working families.
Suarez also took a shot at the governor’s tax relief proposal. “What the governor is proposing makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.”
Gonzalez, however, doubled down. “Property taxes are too high,” he said. “The governor put a marker down, and I’m willing to go into that fight with him.”
The four candidates invited to participate in the October 16 debate at the Arsht Center all received 10% or more support in a poll conducted before the event, debate organizers said.
A fifth candidate – Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo – also met that threshold and was invited to join the forum, but did not. Carollo co-sponsored the resolution passed by the City Commission last week urging the Florida Legislature to move forward with tax relief for senior homeowners.
This story was originally published in the Coconut Grove Spotlight, a WLRN News partner.
