Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who on Tuesday will hold the first in a series of town hall meetings about next year’s budget, says three county fire-rescue ambulances that were slated to be eliminated for cost savings have been saved.
The Fire Department still faces a $15 million budget deficit, so some firefighters are still likely to get pink slips, the mayor said. But the number could be about half of the 149 positions originally projected for elimination to plug the hole.
“That’s based on the best numbers we have available now,” Fernando Figueredo, the mayor’s communication director, said Monday. “It’s a work in progress.”
Last month, after the mayor’s proposed property tax increase was met with a chorus of groans from the public and county commissioners, he backed-pedaled and proposed a flat tax rate.