Impatience with Miami-Dade COVID relief for water bills almost sinks Levine Cava budget

Miami-Dade commissioners almost upended Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s 2022 budget proposal early Wednesday morning over a dispute involving the county’s freeze on water service cut-offs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a lopsided vote that caught Levine Cava and her deputies off guard, commissioners rejected her proposed 3.7% combined increase in water and wastewater fees as the first budget hearing of her administration was nearing an end.

Only four of the 13 commissioners — Keon Hardemon, Oliver Gilbert, Eileen Higgins and Jean Monestime — voted for the fee increases. Several board members objected to creating higher water bills for residents when Miami-Dade has tolerated $25 million in overdue water bills, mostly from relief granted since March 2020 under an emergency moratorium on shutting off water service.

“Do we have proof they have lost their jobs?” Commissioner Rebeca Sosa asked. “There are hundreds of job openings out there. The people who work hard can’t pay for the ones that are not.”

The 11:55 p.m. vote didn’t hold. After a chaotic hour of Levine Cava huddling with lawyers and then debates over what to do next, enough commissioners switched votes to advance the fees shortly before 1 a.m. That allowed the Levine Cava budget to advance intact to the next round of commission votes in two weeks.

Final budget approvals are scheduled for a second 5 p.m. budget hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 28. Levine Cava said the administration would come back with revised rules for overdue water bills, which commissioners exempted from service cuts-offs in an April 2020 vote.

Water fees and sewer fees make up a tiny portion of Levine Cava’s $9 billion budget, and the higher retail rates are forecast to generate about $31 million in extra revenue for a Water and Sewer Department planning to spend about $930 million in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. A Levine Cava spokesperson said the median monthly increase in water bills would be less than $2 a month under the budget proposal.

The water-fee fracas followed a string of unanimous votes setting the 2022 property-tax rates, all flat except the 6% increase on the one that funds payments on voter-authorized debt. Only Commissioner Joe Martinez voted against the spending components of the budget legislation.

While the county’s COVID-relief program for overdue water bills caused budget turmoil, Washington’s COVID-relief program for Miami-Dade government pumped the 2022 budget proposal with new spending as part of a more than $1 billion payout to the county. That includes more than $500 million in general expenses under the American Rescue Plan and another $500 million to the county’s transit system, a regular drain on property taxes and other revenue.

“We’re blessed,” Chairman José “Pepe” Diaz said. “Our federal government came through, and has been bringing in money for over a year and a half.”

With a flood of new dollars to spend, Levine Cava’s 2022 proposal includes $60 million in pay increases for union workers through a 3% cost-of-living increase and a 2% bonus. There’s also $7 million for the county-owned Jackson Health hospital system for vaccination expenses, and $1 million for Miami-Dade groups helping Haitian and Venezuelan citizens apply for Temporary Protected Status in the United States.

The commission votes followed nearly five hours of public comments, a mix of nonprofits pleading with commissioners for financial help and advocates mostly urging the board to preserve Levine Cava’s new spending proposals.

Those included a new housing advocate costing $175,000 to focus on helping people dealing with evictions and foreclosures; $200,000 for a sobering center that serves as a temporary shelter for people who are intoxicated or high; and $100,000 to cover the cost of Levine Cava employing a chief heat officer to help residents deal with summer temperatures as global warming continues.

“We’re thrilled the county recognizes this public health crisis of extreme heat, and has responded accordingly,” said Esteban Wood, of We Count!, which advocates for undocumented farm workers. “We look forward to working with the chief heat officer to protect our members who labor on the front lines of this extreme heat crisis.”

Elected mayor in November after six years on the county commission, Levine Cava has been trying to mobilize support for her budget since early 2021. That included launching the Thrive 305 effort, which used advocacy groups and other organizations to survey residents on priorities.

Several nonprofits seeking county dollars mobilized members and supporters to press Levine Cava and commissioners for help. Agape Network, a nonprofit rehab provider, wants $4 million to build a treatment center in Goulds.

Kathy Brunson said she started out being treated at Agape in 2014 after more than 20 years of addiction, and then found a job there. “I’m over eight years clean,” she told commissioners. “Agape gave me civility, it taught me how to live. But most of all, it taught me how to love myself.”

Levine Cava plans to announce budget additions ahead of the Sept. 28 hearing, including new spending requested by commissioners. In her remarks, she called the budget a “compassionate” but responsible spending plan.

“It’s balanced and it’s compassionate and it’s inclusive,” she said. The first Democrat elected to the nonpartisan mayor’s race in 20 years, Levine Cava also used a slogan of President Joe Biden to describe what Miami-Dade needs to recover from the pandemic. “Our community is asking us to build back better from COVID.”

This article was updated to clarify that the proposed increase in water fees also applies to wastewater fees.

This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 9:06 AM.