Miami-Dade mayor ends budget fight with sheriff, agrees to give $31 million more

Miami-Dade’s sheriff secured an extra $31 million from the county’s mayor late Thursday, ending one of the biggest battles in an unusually contentious summer budget season.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced the proposed spending boost for the Sheriff’s Office in a memo outlining changes in her budget plan, which faces its first County Commission vote on Thursday, Sept. 4. Commissioners will take the first of two votes on the mayor’s budget proposal after a public hearing on the plan, which starts at 5 p.m.

Under fire for her proposed cuts to senior services, parks, charity grants and arts funding, Levine Cava has been announcing updates in the last two weeks that replenish the dollars, softening the fights that await her once commissioners take the lead in the budget process with their votes.

“Our focus throughout this process has been to protect core County services including public safety, transit, waste, water, and more, while maintaining our historically low property tax rate and keeping costs as low as possible for residents,” Levine Cava wrote in the memo.

While spared from actual cuts in the proposal Levine Cava unveiled in July, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz warned that the extra $55 million allocated for her agency next year still amounted to “defunding the police” because it wasn’t enough to hire the deputy recruits and fill the civilian posts the newly elected sheriff said the county needs. Cordero-Stutz wanted about $94 million more, but on Friday, she said the extra dollars Levine Cava proposed will meet the agency’s needs. The new Levine Cava proposal brings the total Sheriff’s Office budget to about $1.1 billion in 2026.

“This is a victory for every resident, family, and neighborhood in our county,” Cordero-Stutz said. “With these resources secured, the Sheriff’s Office can continue to meet the needs of a growing community.”

A fight defused over the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office budget

A change in Florida’s Constitution required Miami-Dade to spin off its police agency into an independent sheriff’s office after the November 2024 election. While Cordero-Stutz, a Republican, runs the Sheriff’s Office, Levine Cava, a Democrat, proposes the tax funding for the independent agency.

Facing new expenses tied to a state-mandated creation of new county agencies, along with holdover consequences from past pay raises in union contracts and property-tax rate cuts, Levine Cava said her proposed spending reductions were needed to close a $402 million deficit.

She has since walked back most of the proposed cuts, though some remain — as does friction over potential fee increases. In her memo Thursday, Levine Cava said her staff and other agencies are now better able to predict one-time surplus dollars available for 2026 as the current budget year comes close to its Sept. 30 end.

“It is important to note that the Proposed Budget released on July 15, 2025, was a snapshot in time,” she wrote.

The original Levine Cava budget proposal was the first county spending plan in at least a decade to propose the kind of cuts that sparked widespread public pushback and debate. Commissioner Marleine Bastien, a Levine Cava ally, called it a “community train wreck” shortly after the mayor’s July 15 unveiling. Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, the mayor’s top foe on the 13-seat commission, blasted Levine Cava’s recent reveal of a budget situation that is less dire than first presented.

“The Mayor followed the imaginary yellow brick road to the pot of money that was waiting right where she left it,” he wrote on social media Thursday night. “Enough with the games and storytelling.”

Here’s a look at some of the remaining hot topics in Levine Cava’s budget proposal:

Lifeguards at swimming holes. Levine Cava’s initial budget plan had a long list of Parks Department cuts and fee hikes, including cutting back on grass mowing, ending activities at neighborhood parks, and adding new parking fees at Tropical Park and other facilities. Levine Cava no longer is proposing most of those changes, but one cut remains: eliminating lifeguard services at naturally formed swimming holes or “atolls” in several parks, including Matheson Hammock.

Charity funding. Levine Cava last week announced restoration of $12 million in arts grants that were cut in her initial proposal and about $18 million for nonprofit grants, out of roughly $29 million in cuts. Nonprofit leaders are pushing commissioners and Levine Cava to restore full funding.

Rescue-helicopter budget. The fire union is fighting a Levine Cava proposal to fully shift the county’s $28 million budget for rescue helicopters from the countywide property tax to the Fire Rescue property tax, which is not paid by residents in Miami and the four other municipalities with their own fire departments.

Water rates. Commissioner Raquel Regalado has been urging Levine Cava to reverse course on a proposed 6% increase in county water rates and keep the fees flat. The mayor’s latest memo cites Regalado’s help in a new proposal to lower the rate increase to 3.5%, with plans to eliminate 160 vacant positions at the Water and Sewer Department to make the numbers work.

Senior services. The Levine Cava budget initially proposed closing two under-used adult day care centers: Little River and South Dade. The mayor’s latest memo said the Little River facility will remain open.

Transit fares and MetroConnect. The MetroConnect transit shuttle service would end under Levine Cava’s initial budget proposal, but an alternative for a short-trip provider is expected to be unveiled before Thursday’s hearing. The Transit Alliance is fighting Levine Cava’s proposed 50-cent increase in fares for buses and Metrorail, which remains in the budget plan.