Thursday is your chance to speak up on Miami-Dade County’s $8.9 billion 2020 budget
Thursday evening will give Miami-Dade commissioners their first official taste of public opinion toward Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s proposed 2020 budget when the county holds a hearing on the $8.9 billion spending plan.
The public hearing scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Stephen Clark Center (111 NW First St., Miami) is the first of two scheduled before final approval of the budget this month. Gimenez’s plan holds all but one property-tax rate flat, amounting to an increase of less than 1 percent on the combined rate.
Gimenez’s proposed 2020 budget would take effect Oct. 1. It includes higher water rates, and more money for expanded library hours, seaweed cleanup, parks managers and police hiring.
The proposed budget also shows a sharp increase in revenue shortfalls in future years as Gimenez prepares to leave office in 2020, with a $30 million deficit projected in 2021. The gap between projected revenues and spending grows to $134 million by 2024.
The budget vote also could have commissioners sharply reduce the county’s long-term plans for improving Miami-Dade’s water and sewer system.
Kevin Lynskey, appointed Water and Sewer director in early 2018, told commissioners on Wednesday his agency has slashed future spending projections for major projects. Instead of spending the $13 billion projected two years ago, the new plan has only about $7.5 billion worth of projects over the next 15 years, a 45 percent drop.
Lynskey said the reduced spending is possible largely thanks to more efficient water usage that’s seen average consumption drop across Miami-Dade even as population grows. The revised spending plan eliminates or delays construction of water and sewage plants because Miami-Dade has determined the county won’t need them as quickly as planned, he said.
“None of these decreases in costs have anything to do with maintaining the system,” he said.
The leaner budget raised concerns by commissioners, given the rocky condition of Miami-Dade’s sewer system. The county has been under federal court order since 2014 to spend an estimated $1.8 billion upgrading its sewer system to fix leaks and breaks that can cause pollution and no-swim warnings. A separate state mandate requires Miami-Dade to halt the pumping of treated sewage into the Atlantic Ocean by 2025.
Delayed fixes for aging pipes not covered by either mandate also are worsening pollution problems, such as the six-day rupture in August of a force main originally scheduled to be replaced in 2013.
“We shelve things for too long,” said Commissioner Sally Heyman, whose district includes the pipe that ruptured. “My biggest concern is ... some of these things can be shifted because you put another Band-Aid on it.”
Lynskey’s presentation to commissioners showed the proposed $7.5 billion water and sewer funding blueprint included in the 2020 budget keeps the consent-decree spending in place. But the ocean “outfall” program would see a significant drop, from $5.7 billion to $2.1 billion. The biggest savings comes from scratching two planned sewer plants, as well as a major pipe project, that were originally part of the outfall spending strategy, Lynskey said.
Water and sewer projects rely on revenue from water bills paid by residents and businesses across Miami-Dade. Lynskey said the original spending plan would have required 7 percent rate increase for years to come. The proposed 2020 budget doesn’t specify an across-the-board increase for water rates, but has a reworking of various billing tiers that is expected to increase revenues by 10 percent.
This week, Gimenez’s office released a memo with adjustments to the original spending plan the mayor released in July.
The original budget included a scheduled 25-cent increase in the county’s $2.25 transit fare for Metrorail and buses. But the mayor dropped that at the last minute, announcing at a July 9 press conference he would recommend commissioners keep fares flat. The memo formalizes that recommendation, saying flat fares will cost about $5.7 million in revenue. Gimenez said the county can make that up through a mix of savings from open positions and better-than-expected fare revenues.
Gimenez also wants to add $2.8 million to the budget for seaweed cleanup along county beaches, an extension funding for an emergency removal operation the county launched in July. Gimenez wants to pay for the operation with hotel taxes, a funding move requiring a change in county law.
The mayor wrote the increased funding is “to ensure that our tourist economy is not negatively impacted by the record high amounts of seaweed on our beaches.”
The final budget hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19. Following that hearing, commissioners are scheduled to take their final votes on the budget.
This story was originally published September 4, 2019 at 6:59 PM.