Several Miami-Dade commissioners are demanding drastic cuts to Mayor Carlos Alvarez's budget amid revelations he gave generous raises to favored staffers while pushing for unprecedented job and salary cuts throughout the rest of County Hall.

Commissioner Audrey Edmonson said she would support cutting the County Executive Office budget by as much as 45 percent next year, saying there's too much duplication between the mayor's staff and that of the county manager.

Commissioners Sally Heyman and Carlos Gimenez are seeking a 25 percent cut, citing outrage over the raises Alvarez quietly handed to his chief of staff and director of policy in March. Heyman filed a public-records request in July seeking raise information, but the pay hikes were not disclosed because they had been backdated to last year.

The Miami Herald reported the raises on Sunday, showing how 12 Alvarez employees have received pay increases of more than 10 percent since last year.

``It's pretty clear what Commissioner Heyman asked for, and she didn't get it,'' said Gimenez, who also complained that staff redundancies have not been eliminated since the county manager and mayor's offices were merged in 2007.

``We need to starve the beast -- force them to become efficient.''

The comments came at a budget committee meeting Monday, foreshadowing a potentially brutal fight between the mayor -- who proposed a countywide budget -- and the 13-member commission, which ultimately must adopt it. The mayor has veto power.

Commissioners, bracing for irate taxpayers at public hearings starting next week, made clear they are demanding the mayor make steeper cuts than the 10 percent reduction he has proposed for his office.

Alvarez spokeswoman Victoria Mallette said Monday that the mayor's office budget has shrunk in recent years.

Last fiscal year, according to Mallette, the mayor's office budget was $9.2 million. Next year's proposed budget is $7.9 million, she said.

``We've been methodically reducing the budget,'' said Mallette, who saw her pay climb 54 percent in 2008.

PAY RAISES

In March, three weeks after delivering a speech calling the current recession the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Alvarez gave Chief of Staff Denis Morales an 11 percent pay raise, bringing his salary from $185,484 to $206,783. On the same day, he gave a 15 percent raise to his policy director, Robert Villar, bringing his salary from $95,779 to $109,879.

The raises were backdated to Sept. 21, 2008, which meant each man also got a generous ``retroactive'' paycheck: Morales for $17,281, Villar for $9,747.

Alvarez also gave a 26 percent raise to his senior advisor, Luis Gazitua, through a series of pay hikes ending in November 2008 that pushed his salary to $101,842.

The moves come at a time when the unemployment rate has doubled, countless businesses and nonprofit organizations have been forced to freeze or cut pay, and the mayor's office has called for shared sacrifice among county employees.

Alvarez is calling for a 5 percent pay cut for all county employees, laying off 1,700 workers and scaling-back services.

The raises for the mayor's inner circle were the talk of the county Monday.

``My members have been calling me saying, `How can I get that deal?' '' said Stan Hills, president of the Dade County Firefighters Union. ``We are being asked to sacrifice, but it's not being spread across the board.''

Commissioner Katy Sorenson, who chairs the budget committee, called for a 15 percent budget cut for Alvarez's office. She wants the same cut for the county commission offices and county attorney's office.

Dennis Moss, county commission chairman, declined comment Monday.

Alvarez previously justified the raises on the grounds that his executives were not paid as well as those working for the county manager when the two offices merged after adoption of the strong mayor system in 2007.

``They are still functioning as two separate offices,'' said Commissioner Barbara Jordan, who called for the mayor's budget to be cut 15 percent. ``They need to function as one.''

BIGGER ISSUES

Even as they push Alvarez to belt-tighten, commissioners are showing few signs of consensus on how to close a $427 million budget gap.

And as the budget battle stirred, proposed property tax bills were mailed to homeowners and businesses across Miami-Dade County on Monday.

Those bills will be significantly higher for many because the county is seeking to generate the same amount of revenue as last year from property with drastically diminished market value.

The county commission could have voted to collect less revenue but failed to reach a workable compromise last month. So, without direction from the commission, state law compels Property Appraiser Pedro J. Garcia to set a rate that raises as much money as last year.

The tax bills will arrive with a letter from Garcia, the first appraiser chosen by voters: ``Please note that it is the responsibility of the taxing authorities, not the Property Appraiser, to set the proposed tax,'' it says.

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