DERM gets separated, Metro Connect survives First in a series of county budget coverage stories Miami-Dade’s $12.9 billion budget squeaked through Thursday night — or, more accurately, early Saturday morning — after another one of those all-night marathons at County Hall that leave everyone bleary-eyed and cranky. The biggest headline? Bus riders dodged a fare […]
On the surface, it looks like Miami-Dade is just giving its environmental watchdog agency its independence back. But the devil is in the details. Buried in the county’s $12.9 billion budget vote this Thursday is a last-minute “restructuring” that environmentalists say will actually weaken the Division of Environmental Resources Management — better known as DERM […]
Well, it looks like the mayor blinked. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has closed the $400-million gap in the 2025-26 budget and still somehow restored every single dollar to the community-based organizations, the nonprofits whose funding has more than doubled in eight years and that every commissioner suddenly pretends is the only thing standing between […]
Was the county’s $402M budget gap just a drill? Remember that $402 million budget hole Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said we were staring down back in July? The one that justified chopping arts funding, pulling the plug on charity grants, hiking transit fees and even grounding the county’s rescue helicopters? Well, guess what. Most […]
Part 1 in a series of county budget coverage stories By the time Miami-Dade commissioners wrapped up their first budget hearing at 4:33 a.m. Friday, the only people left in the chambers were the diehards. And a very tired staff who must have had a lot of cafecito. But most of the 240 speakers during […]
And how much is this about a nearby private school? Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has been in office for 12 years — first as a city commissioner, then as mayor — and never once raised an eyebrow about the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center Association, the entity charged with the stewardship of the […]
Como un novio feo, the City of Miami just won’t take no for an answer. After losing in circuit court and then getting their appeal slammed by the Third District Court of Appeals July 31, city officials went right back on Monday and filed yet another motion for rehearing — still trying to justify their […]
Town manager, council member say it won’t be 36% The Miami Lakes Town Council has set a tentative property tax rate for next year — and brace yourself, Lakers, because it’s higher than anything you’ve seen in nearly a decade. The new ceiling? It’s 2.6372 mills, or $2.63 for every $1,000 of taxable property value. […]
Well, vecinos, it looks like the Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has finally found a way to get rid of Planning & Zoning Board member Sue Kawalerski — the only member who regularly sides with residents over developers. All it takes is three votes of the commission on Tuesday in what could be an unprecedented […]
In her efforts to close a budget shortfall she says is caused by the sudden loss of COVID dollars and the five constitutional offices separating from the county, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava might be compromising public safety. Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz all but waved a big red siren this week, warning commissioners that […]