Latest news with #DaniellaLevineCava
Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Miami-Dade Mayor demands ‘immediate access' and oversight over Alligator Alcatraz
The Mayor of Miami-Dade County is once again demanding access to Alligator Alcatraz, the immigrant detention center in the Everglades that was rapidly built on property seized from the county. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's letter to the state, issued Friday, was a stern call for 'immediate access and oversight authority' and requested a response by July 28. 'As the legal property owner of this site, the County is entitled to conduct inspections and assert oversight over any ongoing operations, including those initiated under emergency declarations,' she wrote. Levine Cava's letter highlighted her concerns about inhumane conditions for detainees, referencing a Miami Herald news story about a 15-year-old who was briefly housed at the site. She reiterated her issues with the environmental impacts of the detention facility, as well as the lack of a publicly available plan for evacuations in the event of a hurricane. The new letter repeats many of the concerns outlined in a July 8 letter that Levine Cava also sent to the state. After a flashy opening day tour featuring right-wing influencers, President Donald Trump and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Florida has allowed only limited access inside the detention facilities. READ MORE: Miami archbishop asks to hold Mass at Alligator Alcatraz. 'Still waiting' for answer Florida politicians did get a guided tour on July 12. Republicans said they saw a well-run and orderly facility and Democrats said they were given too limited a view to answer many of their questions about conditions. Levine Cava's new letter repeated her previously ignored requests for weekly updates from Alcatraz staff about the center, as well as remote video access of the detention facility — or third-party access for ongoing observation. 'The County received no formal communication from your office prior to the development and deployment of this facility, and repeated efforts to seek transparency have been ignored or rebuffed. Our residents deserve full accountability for operations taking place on County-owned property,' she wrote.
Miami Herald
23-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
As Florida DOGE looms, Miami-Dade faces budget cuts and the mayor hits a crisis
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told the Herald Editorial Board in May that a 'perfect storm' of financial headwinds were to blame for the county's $402 million budget shortfall. There's a lot of truth to that statement. Some of the challenges facing the county were outside local control, mainly the costs of complying with a 2018 state referendum that forced Miami-Dade to turn some of its departments, such as police, into independent offices run by new elected officials. But, as we wrote in May, Levine Cava and the 13 county commissioners who must approve the budget every year rode high on rising property tax revenues and $1 billion of federal COVID funding that's now dried up. They should have had more foresight. Now Levine Cava is suggesting budget cuts for next year that she said will be 'very painful,' the Herald reported. Miami-Dade's budget woes also might turn out to be politically painful, especially for the mayor, the first major test she's faced in two terms. Since Donald Trump's return to the White House, the frenzy to cut programs has reached all levels of government. The newly-created Florida DOGE — fashioned after the Trump administration department responsible for firing thousands of federal employees — is auditing spending by Broward County, Gainesville and other communities. Gov. Ron DeSantis said it is 'very possible' that Miami-Dade could be next, the Sun Sentinel reported. The Florida DOGE is more about politics than fiscal responsibility. It is targeting programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and that are aimed at responding to climate change, a central issue for Levine Cava. Perhaps foreseeing these political headwinds, she eliminated two top environmental positions in county government, chief resilience officer and chief heat officer, both of which earned six-figure salaries. She also re-organized and reduced the department in charge of climate change response as part of her cost-cutting measures. With more cuts to come, the pain will be felt by the most vulnerable people and organizations in Miami-Dade. The mayor is proposing cuts across county departments, including $40 million in nonprofit funding, closing two senior centers that her administration says are 'underperforming,' with only about two dozen people using them, and closing three places where older residents can get free meals, which are also described as 'underperforming.' Grants for small businesses and arts organizations, which already lost state dollars last year, are also on the chopping block. Of course, few causes can be spared when budget cuts become inevitable. and there should be few sacred cows. But where was that mindset when the mayor and commission in recent years approved $46 million in direct funding and free services for the soccer World Cup when it comes to Miami in 2026 — $36 million of which will come due in the 2026 budget, according to the Herald. Just two months ago, Levine Cava endorsed the latest $10 million subsidy installment for the Cup and acknowledged that may lead to service cuts. Certainly, managing a budget the size of Miami-Dade is a difficult, thankless job. Since her election in 2020, Levine Cava, a former county commissioner and nonprofit founder, has faced few major crises. One of two Democrats elected countywide, she occupies a nonpartisan office and has managed to remain non controversial despite Miami-Dade's rightward shift. Her handling of the Surfside building collapse and her initiatives to help people affected by South Florida's housing crisis have earned her community goodwill. She was easily reelected last year despite criticism about county spending from her main opponent, Manny Cid, a Republican and former mayor of Miami Lakes. In January, Levine Cava appointed Cid as the county's senior advisor for economic opportunity, a great display of her ability to reach across the aisle but one that cost taxpayers $200,000 per year for his salary. She's now proposing to eliminate the department where Cid works. Fiscal management does not rest only with the mayor of Miami-Dade County, but with the county commission as well. But, politically, Levine Cava will be the one blamed or celebrated for how the county deals with this great challenge. The pressure has never been greater. Click here to send the letter.
CBS News
18-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Miami-Dade sheriff says safety at risk without more funding
Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz is warning that public safety could be compromised if her department doesn't receive more funding in the upcoming fiscal year. "If the proposed budget stands for the Office of the Sheriff, as the administration has submitted, I will be looking at an extreme deficit of deputies," Cordero-Stutz said. She was referring to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's proposed 2025–26 budget, which includes an 8.5% increase for the Sheriff's Office — about $55 million more than last year. But Cordero-Stutz says that's not enough. "There are less deputies to respond to call for service, less deputies to stop a major event as it occurs," she said. When asked by CBS News Miami what she believes the ideal increase would be, the sheriff said: "I am asking for an 11% increase from last year's fiscal budget and I believe that translates to 93 million additional dollars. Just this year alone, I'm currently 200 deputy vacancies, just simply from deputies who have separated and retired." This week, Mayor Levine Cava announced her proposed budget for 2025–26, which includes a projected deficit of more than $400 million. A significant portion of the sheriff's funding comes from property taxes. The mayor is proposing to keep the tax rate flat. "My proposed budget includes another year of flat millage to maintain our historically [low] tax rate," Levine Cava said, urging commissioners to vote to keep the rate unchanged. Commissioners voted overwhelmingly to keep the property tax rate flat — at least for now. Some residents say they're willing to pay more in taxes if it means safer neighborhoods. "If it's not too much, I don't care. I think it's worth it," said property owner Katia Dallas. Others are more skeptical. "That's a lie. Police officers are everywhere. Where is all the money they get? Do not raise my property taxes," said Alexis Izaguirre, another Miami-Dade property owner. Oscar Hernandez said he supports a tax increase, citing a rise in crime in his neighborhood. The final budget vote is scheduled for Sept. 4. Until then, the debate over public safety funding — and how much residents are willing to pay for it — is expected to continue.
CBS News
17-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Miami-Dade commissioners vote to build new waste-to-energy facility, but location still undecided
Miami-Dade County commissioners voted Wednesday to move forward with building a new waste-to-energy facility, a key step in addressing the region's growing trash problem. "I think it's a victory for the residents of Miami-Dade, not just District 12," said Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez, who opposed rebuilding at the site of the Doral incinerator that burned in 2023. "The facility will not be built either in Doral or Medley or in the 58th Street portion or Sweetwater or Airport West," Bermudez said. Any new facility must now be located at least half a mile from any residential area. The decision was applauded by Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam. "I just want to say thank you to the leadership of Miami-Dade County commissioners who voted to remove Airport West from consideration," Messam said. The motion, proposed by Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, was approved unanimously. "The policy was set at the county today that we will build a waste-to-energy facility with a heavy emphasis on composting and recycling," Cohen Higgins said. "The ultimate decision of where it'll be built is still yet to be determined." The two remaining sites under consideration are west of Okeechobee Road and are located on private property. "I believe that the technology today for waste-to-energy is environmentally sound," said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. Earlier in the day, she had suggested considering landfills instead of incinerators. But after the vote, she expressed support for the decision to move forward. "I was not opposed in principle to waste-to-energy," Levine Cava said. "My concern was how we are going to get there, because there's been a lot of back and forth about where it's going to be." Proposals that had sparked outrage in Doral and Miramar—where residents opposed having an incinerator in their backyard—have now been removed from consideration. The site of the old incinerator and a location in Medley are officially off the table. Commissioners are expected to reconvene in 90 days to make a final decision on the two remaining sites.
Miami Herald
16-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
‘Swim at your own risk': Mayor's cuts to Miami-Dade parks hit lifeguards, security
Roadside landscaping crews will get fewer hours, leaving roadside grass to grow taller. A pair of tax-funded senior centers will close. And some Miami-Dade parks will lose lifeguards and adopt a 'Swim at Your Own Risk' approach in the new era of austerity Mayor Daniella Levine Cava proposed Tuesday to close a $402 million budget gap. Her $12.9 billion spending plan for 2026 ends five years of relatively flush spending in which federal COVID dollars flowed into the Miami area and real estate values boomed. With Washington and Tallahassee cutting back and home sales cooling off, Levine Cava is proposing a series of service reductions, layoffs and fee increases to balance the 2026 budget. 'We've been through some good times together, and now we face some challenges,' Levine Cava said in a morning press conference at County Hall in downtown Miami. County commissioners will vote to approve the final budget in September, so the Levine Cava proposal is just a starting point for months of negotiating, lobbying and public pressure over how Miami-Dade should spend its tax dollars. Commissioners will get their first crack at the plan on Wednesday, when they're scheduled to vote on caps for the property-tax rates that fund Levine Cava's 2026 budget proposal. Levine Cava, a Democrat, has proposed flat tax rates for the five property taxes that fund daily county spending, but some commissioners want them lowered. Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, a Republican, is advocating for lower rates and recently criticized Levine Cava as a liberal over-spender now facing reality. 'It's easy to be compassionate when you're spending other people's money,' he wrote in an op-ed the Miami Herald published Monday. Last week, the Herald reported that Levine Cava planned on cutting spending to some of the initiatives she launched after winning the mayor's office in 2020. That included closing the Office of New Americans, which helps permanent visa holders become citizens, and removing more than $40 million in county grants to nonprofits — funding that grew with the infusion of federal COVID dollars. 'It's very painful,' Levine Cava said of the budget cuts she's proposing for 2026. The budget proposal released Tuesday outlines other cuts and fee hikes that could go into effect when the 2026 fiscal year begins Oct. 1. They include: Closing two senior centers: the Little River and South Dade adult daycare facilities. Both operate with a mix of county and federal dollars. The budget describes them as 'underperforming,' with only about two dozen people using them, and says the closures will save about $450,000 in county dollars. Letting grass grow taller at county parks and roadways. The Parks Department plans to save $3.5 million by cutting back lawn mowing by 25%. Another $1.6 million comes from defunding a tree-planting initiative. Shuttering a 10-person team dedicated to dealing with substance abuse issues. The Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes costs about $1.5 million to run. The budget was tied to a federal grant. Ending lifeguard coverage at an unknown number of county parks, which would adopt a 'Swim at Your Own Risk' policy. That would save about $770,000 a year. To save about $430,000, the Parks budget also gets rid of dedicated security guards at three park facilities: Arcola Lakes Senior Center, North Pointe Community Center and Oak Grove Park. Ending free parking at multiple county parks. Budget summaries that Levine Cava circulated to commissioners include $5 parking fees at A.D. Barnes Park and Tropical Park. The budget says the new $5 parking fees will raise about $3.6 million a year. Closing three places where older residents can get free meals. The 'congregate meal sites' — Florida City, Leonard Batz Center and Perrine — are also described as underperforming in the budget, which says closing them saves $272,000 in local funds. Miami-Dade would continue operating 13 other meal sites across the county. While the full budget includes self-sustaining county agencies like Miami International Airport and the sewer system, the bulk of the budget friction happens around expenses tied to property taxes. That part of the budget started at roughly $3.6 billion earlier this year, with only about $3.2 billion in projected revenues to pay for it. Levine Cava said the $402 million deficit came in part from Miami-Dade adjusting to a state-mandated change in local government. This is the first county budget that includes a full year's worth of spending on newly independent offices for sheriff and tax collector — positions that used to report to Levine Cava before Florida voters enacted a constitutional change requiring those agencies be spun off into their own governments. While Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz now controls what used to be the Miami-Dade Police Department, the County Commission still approves county funding for the agency. The Levine Cava plan includes a 12% increase in spending for the Sheriff's Office, with a projected budget of $1 billion. Meanwhile, Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez, who took office in January, has been taking over the state-run DMV offices that became a Miami-Dade responsibility with the change in local government. The change did not come with state dollars to issue driver's licenses, though. State law does give Fernandez the authority to retain 2% of the county's property-tax revenue each year — a figure topping $120 million in 2026. While Fernandez does plan to retain the 2%, he said he expects to rebate a large portion of that to Miami-Dade by the end of the fiscal year. Decisions by Levine Cava and the commissioners drove the deficit, too. Commissioners approved $46 million in subsidies and free county services for the 2026 World Cup games, with $36 million coming due in the 2026 budget. Levine Cava endorsed the latest $10 million subsidy installment in a May 6 memo, despite saying the cash giveaway might require the county to cut government services. Slight cuts to property-tax rates that Levine Cava secured in the 2023 and 2024 budgets also will cost the 2026 budget about $48 million in lost revenue, according to Herald calculations. And rather than hold back dollars for a rainy day, Levine Cava and commissioners funded a number of one-off programs and payments in recent years, including issuing $25 million in property-tax rebates for low-income seniors over the last two years and using more than $50 million in federal COVID dollars to minimize increases in county trash fees. State tax cuts are costing Miami-Dade millions, too. The elimination of a statewide tax on commercial leases and changes in a Florida utility tax are expected to remove about $65 million from the county budget in 2026. Federal and state revenues are down about $78 million in the 2026 budget proposal. While her administration sees the proposed cuts as the steepest since the lean years following the 2008 housing crash, the Levine Cava budget proposal increases spending by a modest 1.3% over current levels. The county's workforce, including the Sheriff's Office, would grow 2% to 31,900 positions. The new positions largely come from the newly independent agencies, including about 500 additional jobs under the Office of the Tax Collector. Despite the overall number of positions growing, the Levine Cava budget proposal eliminates about 360 positions, including 142 currently filled by employees who will lose their jobs by Oct. 1, according to budget documents. Levine Cava's budget also doesn't provide long-term fixes to the county's financial challenges. Deficits are projected to return in 2027 and approach $250 million within five years. In an interview, Levine Cava said the county can't afford to reduce spending more without severe service disruptions. 'We don't have any ideas where else to cut,' she said. 'We'd have to cut bus routes. We'd have to cut parks entirely. It's pretty dire.'
