Miami Gardens tentatively approves budget, tax rate for new fiscal year

Miami Gardens council members gave initial approval to their tax rate and budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The City Council unanimously approved both items during a brief meeting Tuesday and featured no speakers from the public.

The city’s budget is about $100 million and includes about $66 million devoted to the general fund. There are no plans for major layoffs or cuts in service, but a vacant city engineer position will be eliminated and save the city about $116,000.

City Manager Cameron Benson said they will hire a new assistant director for the public works department. The city will also add one more code enforcement officer, 11 new police officers and a tree specialist.

“What we kept hearing from residents is problems with foliage,” Benson said. “In talking with staff, we thought it was better to have one person focusing on that.”

In addition to those new positions, the city manager’s office will add two employees, and the mayor’s office will fall under the manager’s purview.

The city will also keep nearly $130,000 in reserves to help fund capital projects, including potential maintenance costs for City Hall and the new police department headquarters.

The initial approval of the tax rate means that it will remain at the proposed rate of $6.93 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Under that rate, which is the same as last year’s, the owner of a median home valued at about $83,000 (taken from the median assessed value from the Miami-Dade property appraiser) would pay about $233 in property taxes.

The city will host its second budget hearing 6 p.m. Sept. 23 at Miami Gardens City Hall, 18605 NW 27th Ave.

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Miami Gardens tentatively approves budget, tax rate for new fiscal year."