COVID budget squeeze has Miami cutting 100 vacant jobs
Miami’s municipal government could close five city service centers in several neighborhoods and eliminate 100 vacant jobs under a $1.1 billion spending plan administrators have proposed during the economic downturn spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, shows a city already tightening its belt to maintain existing services and pay its 4,000person workforce, with a grim forecast for the next few years. The city expects the ailing economy to seriously slow property value growth, leading to less tax revenue in 2021 and beyond. This year, Miami commissioners voted to advertise the same property tax rate as last year, setting a ceiling for the rate that will receive final votes in September.
Administrators are bracing for the impact while grappling with a shortfall this year that exceeds $20 million, a gap created by millions in losses from dips in sales tax, parking fees and other direct payments to the city after the coronavirus forced the economy to mostly close down in the spring.
“While the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have not yet entirely been felt, the City of Miami is facing the impact of diminished revenues for the current and coming fiscal year,” wrote City Manager Art Noriega in his budget message.
Underscoring the budget crunch is a fight between county’s municipalities and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, the top decision maker for the county’s sprawling government. Gimenez’s plan to send the cities $30 million out of the county’s $474 million share of federal COVID-19 relief dollars drew a sharp rebuke from several mayors on Thursday, including Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
“I’m never aware of a time where this has happened before, with cities standing so united,” Suarez said at a press conference.
“The disrespect, the lack of honesty ... has led us to a point where we have no faith and confidence in the [county] government.”
NET OFFICE CLOSING, JOBS GETTING CUT
The city has proposed closing six of 13 Neighborhood Enhancement Team (NET) offices, “to save funding and to focus NET’s energy on the most important services citywide.” The NET offices serve as hubs for municipal services where residents could ask questions, get paperwork and file complaints. The NET offices act as mini city halls that can handle neighborhood beautification projects and coordinate with police and other city departments. Neighborhood association presidents often connect with NET administrators to deal with everyday issues.
In October, the city could close the following
NET offices: Downtown/Brickell Little Haiti
Marlins Park
Model City
Overtown Wynwood/Edgewater Under the budget plan, the following NET offices would remain open: Allapattah
Coconut Grove
Coral Way
Flagami
Little Havana
NET Administration headquarters, located in Little Havana
Upper Eastside Administrators said the remaining NET offices will function as they have in the past. As with several departments across the city, vacant positions would be eliminated.
In the fire-rescue, police, parks and several other departments, unfilled jobs would be cut under the budget. Code compliance, which received a boosted budget last year to hire staff and buy equipment for a campaign against illegal dumping, would have six vacant jobs eliminated.
In the parks department, the elimination of 11 open jobs “will impact services by reducing the frequency of grounds maintenance” at city parks, according to the proposed budget. The city also plans to save $548,000 by operating Grapeland Water Park only on weekends in summer 2021.
Another personnel shift that has already attracted public scrutiny: The consolidation of the city’s resilience staff into the public works department. The chief resilience officer position would be eliminated following the recent departure of Jane Gilbert, the city’s first CRO.
The budget would move three existing staffers under the current director of the department of resilience and public works, Alan Dodd. Dodd has been given the title of “chief resilience officer” in addition to his previous duties, a change announced the day after the Miami Herald published an article about the elimination of the stand-alone resilience department. Climate action activists worry the consolidation of duties will hamper the city’s ability to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
WHAT ABOUT MY PROPERTY TAX BILL?
On July 23, commissioners voted to hold the line on the property tax rate in the next budget year, setting a ceiling for a rate that can be lowered before the spending plan receives final approval in September, but it cannot be easily raised. Due to increased property values before the pandemic, a flat property tax rate will still translate into a slightly higher bill for a typical Miami property owner.
Under the rate, the owner of a median home valued at about $166,000 would pay about $957 in property taxes. This marks a $30 increase from the last budget year, assuming the owner qualified for the standard homestead exemption and the home’s assessed value increased by 2.3%, the maximum allowed by law this year for an owner-occupied home. Even though Miami bureaucrats and commissioners are expected to keep the property tax rate the same, the increase can be attributed to higher property values.
That dynamic is expected to change. The city is forecasting property values to slump in 2021 and only begin to stabilize in 2022. City-controlled property taxes are one portion of one’s overall tax bill, which also includes taxes for the school board and other local agencies. In August, property owners will receive a letter called a “TRIM notice” in August giving them their proposed tax rate and hearing dates.