Miami-Dade’s $9 billion budget faces first test on police spending, COVID strain

Miami-Dade commissioners are weeks away from approving their first budget that takes into account both the coronavirus crisis and demands for less police spending that were part of the demonstrations for racial justice this summer in the county and across the country.

On Thursday, members of the public will have their first chance to challenge Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s proposed $9 billion spending plan for 2021. It’s a budget that increases spending and hiring in county government, with about half of the county’s general funds covering costs for police and jails.

A top demand of groups in Miami protesting George Floyd’s death by police in Minneapolis was to shift dollars from law enforcement and into county programs to address social needs, including affordable housing and mental-health counseling.

More than 400 people participated in an online forum on the budget last month organized by Engage Miami, Dream Defenders and other groups who have pressed Miami-Dade on social-justice issues. For the budget, they’re targeting police spending and calling for more dollars to go to homeless services and healthcare.

“A big portion of this budget is being allocated to police and corrections staff,” said Amy Morales, one of the moderators. “A large portion of that is going to the salaries of people who are caging our people.”

The 2021 budget proposal includes expanded library hours, money for new police recruits and construction dollars for Miami-Dade’s new $300 million rapid-transit bus system planned for South Miami-Dade and a station by the Aventura Mall for a new commuter route planned by the currently shuttered Brightline train line.

Miami-Dade holds two public budget hearings each year. The ones scheduled for Sept. 3 and Sept. 17 both begin at 5 p.m. and will be held online. Information and registration details are available at miamidade.gov/budget.

Of the $2.2 billion in the county’s general funds — the pool of money where 71 cents of every dollar comes from property taxes — roughly 45% goes to Miami-Dade’s Police Department and its Corrections Department. That’s the same portion as the funding breakdown in the current budget year, which ends Sept. 30.

Miami-Dade’s $384 million corrections system relies on the countywide general fund. The $781 million spent on police comes from a mix of countywide dollars and taxes collected only in areas outside of city limits, where residents pay a second county property tax and rely on Miami-Dade for municipal services.

Both areas have general funds used for core government services. If calculated using only the countywide general fund — about $1.7 billion collected from all residents and businesses countywide — police and jails account for 35% of spending.

This year, Gimenez and 7 of the 13 commissioners are leaving office in November. That means they’ll be approving a spending plan mostly left to the next mayor’s administration to implement. Property tax rates remain flat in the proposed budget, and commissioners in July voted to cap them at 2020 levels. They can still vote to lower them, but that would require cuts in the $9.04 billion budget from Gimenez.

Fees typically draw the closest votes from commissioners after the two hearings. Water and sewer fees are budgeted to increase in 2021, with an overall revenue increase of about 4%.

Holes in the future

Long-term, the budget plan shows revenue gaps once Gimenez leaves office in November.

By 2023, Miami-Dade expects a revenue shortfall of $103 million from countywide property taxes and other general revenues, plus another $58 million deficit in the area outside of city limits that receives municipal services from Miami-Dade.

Drafted during a coronavirus pandemic that has crippled the county’s hospitality industry and sent unemployment soaring, Gimenez’s final budget shows some strain from COVID-19.

But there are none of the cuts that defined the mayor’s first budget when he came into office in 2011 at the tail end of a real estate crash. That year, he and commissioners rolled back an unpopular hike in property-tax rates and approved wage reductions for employees and service cuts for the public.

For the 2021 proposal, spending from the general fund is up about $92 million, a 4% increase. Overall staffing is set to grow a tiny bit, from 28,409 positions in the current year to 28,599 in 2021. That’s less than 1% growth for county government, the second-largest employer in Miami-Dade behind the school system.

Federal relief from the CARES Act bolsters some of the revenue figures, but Miami-Dade’s budget writers also baked in a relatively stable 2021, said Jennifer Moon, the deputy mayor who oversees budgeting.

Transit concerns

Miami-Dade’s Transportation and Public Works Department shows a 30% plunge in sales-tax revenue from the current budget. But overall spending is up about 18% in the agency, which runs the county’s transit system.

One boost comes from $49 million in CARES money. Another comes from fare revenue hitting $78 million, even though the county has not charged bus or train passengers since March as a COVID precaution.

Moon said the budget assumes fares are collected for all 12 months in the 2021 budget year, which begins Oct. 1. But Miami-Dade also assumes it could use CARES dollars to cover lost fare revenue through December. If the COVID situation doesn’t improve enough by then to resume fare collection and for ridership to grow, service cuts would be required. That is, assuming Washington doesn’t come through with another aid package to help local governments manage COVID woes.

For now, Miami-Dade has frozen open positions and Moon said the county is trying to curtail spending to boost reserves heading into 2021. “We’re holding off expenses as best we can,” she said. If COVID weighs down revenue more than expected into 2021, “we’ll have to cut more.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 8:30 PM.