Miami-Dade Mayor Levine Cava seeks to close $402 million revenue gap with her proposed budget
By Helen Acevedo
July 15, 2025 at 5:57 PM EDT
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava unveiled her proposed budget for the new fiscal year and is recommending eliminating about 350 jobs, including vacancies, to help close a $400 million deficit.
“We can't have a deficit budget…there are reductions that I wish we did not have to make, but which were necessary to achieve a $402 million savings,” she said.
The mayor’s proposed budget calls for some administrative belt tightening by consolidating six offices. It also will recommend, for the first time in more than a decade, a fare increase for public transit. Riders would see a 50-cent hike.
She said part of the reason for the budget shortfall was linked to this year’s opening of five state-mandated, independent constitutional offices that included the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and tax collector’s office. The cluster of new offices makes up nearly half of the total budget gap, according to the mayor’s office.
“Over the last five years, we’ve worked hard to build an efficient, effective government that delivers the services our residents need to thrive – while keeping taxes low,” Levine Cava said in a statement. “Since I became Mayor we have made historic investments in public safety, housing, transit, and more, and we passed two consecutive years of tax cuts that brought our combined tax rate to the lowest since 1982.”
This year, however, she said the county is facing “a perfect storm of fiscal challenges.”
Commissioners will vote on a final budget in September. The new fiscal year starts October 1.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis said Wednesday she will not support the mayor’s proposed budget.
“Budgets reflect our values — and this one betrays the people it’s supposed to serve,” she said in a statement. “This budget asks working families to pay more while getting less — and I refuse to support that.”
“Charging families to park at public parks while cutting services, raising the gas tax, and defunding programs that support seniors, youth, and mental health is a step backward,” she said. “We need to protect core services like police and fire, while also delivering the basics—cutting the grass, fixing potholes, and keeping our neighborhoods clean and safe.”
In an op-ed published Monday in the Miami Herald, Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto J. Gonzalez blamed the projected $402 million budget shortfall on “an out-of-control government.”
“Instead of fiscally disciplined and transparent budgeting, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s proposed budget is a cautionary tale of progressive governance,” he said.
“We can't have a deficit budget…there are reductions that I wish we did not have to make, but which were necessary to achieve a $402 million savings,” she said.
The mayor’s proposed budget calls for some administrative belt tightening by consolidating six offices. It also will recommend, for the first time in more than a decade, a fare increase for public transit. Riders would see a 50-cent hike.
She said part of the reason for the budget shortfall was linked to this year’s opening of five state-mandated, independent constitutional offices that included the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and tax collector’s office. The cluster of new offices makes up nearly half of the total budget gap, according to the mayor’s office.
“Over the last five years, we’ve worked hard to build an efficient, effective government that delivers the services our residents need to thrive – while keeping taxes low,” Levine Cava said in a statement. “Since I became Mayor we have made historic investments in public safety, housing, transit, and more, and we passed two consecutive years of tax cuts that brought our combined tax rate to the lowest since 1982.”
This year, however, she said the county is facing “a perfect storm of fiscal challenges.”
Commissioners will vote on a final budget in September. The new fiscal year starts October 1.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis said Wednesday she will not support the mayor’s proposed budget.
“Budgets reflect our values — and this one betrays the people it’s supposed to serve,” she said in a statement. “This budget asks working families to pay more while getting less — and I refuse to support that.”
“Charging families to park at public parks while cutting services, raising the gas tax, and defunding programs that support seniors, youth, and mental health is a step backward,” she said. “We need to protect core services like police and fire, while also delivering the basics—cutting the grass, fixing potholes, and keeping our neighborhoods clean and safe.”
In an op-ed published Monday in the Miami Herald, Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto J. Gonzalez blamed the projected $402 million budget shortfall on “an out-of-control government.”
“Instead of fiscally disciplined and transparent budgeting, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s proposed budget is a cautionary tale of progressive governance,” he said.