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Miami-Dade’s billion-dollar disconnect: Tax collector flush, county in the red
Dariel Fernandez gives county hall $26 million gift
While Miami-Dade is drowning in debt and digging under the couch cushions looking for a staggering $402 million to close Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s budget gap, blaming the constitutional offices for a big chunk of the shortage — one of those offices is swimming in a big $9.6 billion infinity pool.
Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez sent out a very polished “we’re doing great” memo late last month, reminding everyone that his constitutionally independent shop is funded by state-set fees and a 2% commission on collections — not the county’s strapped general fund. Translation: Our lights stay on even if your budget’s bleeding red ink.
And Fernandez is apparently offering to provide $26 million to plug the hole in the Miami-Dade budget, even though he has earlier said that county should have planned for the constitutional offices, which were approved by voters in 2018.
Read related: Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava defends new budget, service cuts
Let the numbers sink in: The same county that collects nearly $10 billion from residents and businesses is somehow $402 million in the hole, hiking bus fares and park fees and cutting services like meals to the elderly. The Tax Collector’s office, which handles property taxes, fees, and other revenue streams, has never looked richer. But the county budget — which funds public services, infrastructure and community programs — is bleeding red.
It’s a tale of two ledgers.
How does that happen? What kind of math is this? And more importantly — where’s the money going?
The almost $10 billion in collected taxes are then distribute not only to the county, municipalities and school board, but also all the special taxing districts and agencies, like The Children’s Trust.
“We are not a branch of County government,” Fernandez said in a statement. “We are a constitutionally independent office at the local level.” His budget was submitted Aug. 1 directly to the Florida Department of Revenue’s Property Tax Oversight (PTO) program for independent review.
Fernandez — a rare government official because he isn’t crying poor — stressed that independence matters, because it keeps him focused on service, not politics. Ladra will stop now to give time to the open laughter. Okay, are we done? Because in Miami-Dade, politics is like glitter: You can’t keep it out of anything.
And while the county could have been bracing for him to keep the full 2% commission, as the state allows, Fernandez says he’s giving back more than 61% of it this year, plus waiving it completely for municipalities and the unincorporated county. It amounts to nearly $40 million back into local coffers. Fernandez even bragged about $15 million in interest earnings sent to taxing authorities.
Read related: New Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez launches new license desk
The tax collector, one of five new constitutional offices approved by voters in 2018, has taken over and expanded the Department of Motor Vehicles services in Miami-Dade — new offices, kiosks at Publix, Saturday hours, reduced waits. Fernandez has painted a picture of an efficient, modern, cash-moving machine. He says the office has already collected and distributed $9.6 billion in just 200 days, with more than $10 billion projected next year.
Fernandez has repeatedly explained that the office is supposed to be self-sufficient. “The State of Florida did not just assign us new responsibilities. It clearly defined how we are to fund them,” he said in a statement. “We operate using the fees we generate through services and the limited commissions we are authorized to retain from tax collections, as outlined in state law.
“We are a self-sustaining model that not only covers our costs but also distributes billions to local governments. Importantly, we do not have a surplus. Each year, we start at zero” Fernandez said. “Every dollar we manage belongs to the public, and we treat it that way. We are not here to build bureaucracy. We are here to build trust and return value to Miami-Dade residents.”
In that vein, we assume, Fernandez and Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez announced this week that they found $26 million in the tax collector’s coffers — $20 million in accelerated funds (out of the $78 million estimated due to the county in October 2026, so that’s just postponing the shortfall) and $6 million from what they anticipate as this year’s surplus — that can be transferred to the county’s general fund.
“My top priorities are clear: protecting the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County, keeping our finances in order, and making sure that our residents, especially the most vulnerable, have access to vital public services they need to thrive in our community,” Rodriguez wrote in a memo dated Aug. 11 and titled “Proposed Path for Partial Restoration of Budget Cuts – Framework for a Path Forward.”
“Crafting a balanced budget in today’s economy means making hard choices, thinking strategically, and a commitment to financial stewardship,” Rodriguez wrote, taking credit for “extensive negotiations and conversations” with Fernandez to make this $26 million windfall happen. “I remain steadfast in my responsibility to lead with purpose and ensure that every public dollar is spent wisely and transparently.”
Rodriguez, who has encouraged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to send his state DOGE squad to Miami-Dade, has said he plans to use these new-found funds for cultural arts funding, community organizations, parks and the reserve funds.
“Setting aside nearly one-third of these funds to build County reserves demonstrates long-term planning and discipline, an essential protection for taxpayers against future economic volatility,” he wrote in his memo. “I further recommend that a healthy portion of all future revenue returned by the county’s tax collector be allocated toward the continued strengthening of our reserves.”
Yeah, that’s a nice plan. But can we feed people first? The current budget slashes subsidized meals for the elderly.
Read related: Facing $400M budget shortfall, Miami-Dade cuts senior meals, lifeguards, more
“Equally important is the partial restoration of funding to community organizations, parks, and cultural programs. These services are not merely amenities,” Rodriguez said. “They are lifelines that uplift our neighborhoods, strengthen our community, and preserve the unique cultural fabric of Miami-Dade.”
Again, súper good ideas — when the county is flush. Right now, the current budget would shut down two senior activity centers. Maybe keeping those open should come before we fund any festivals.
This promises to be an exciting point of discussion at the Aug. 20 meeting of the whole, where commissioners will go through the. budget with a microscope and an Exacto knife to find efficiencies and restore some of the programs and services cut.
There will also be two public hearings next month (Sept. 4 and Sept. 18) for public input where commissioners can make final changes before the 2025-26 budget gets final approval. The fiscal year starts Oct. 1.
More information on the Miami-Dade 2025-26 budget can be found on the county’s website here.
Miami–Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez did not set aside any of his $6 million surplus to help support Political Cortadito’s mission, monitor our local electeds and public officials. That’s why Ladra depends on readers like you to help keep the Fresh Colada brewing with a contribution to grassroots, government watchdog reporting. Thank you for your support!
The post Miami-Dade’s billion-dollar disconnect: Tax collector flush, county in the red appeared first on Political Cortadito.
David and Leila Centner give fresh $100K to Alex Diaz de la Portilla PAC
Former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla hasn’t filed any official paperwork to run for mayor this year, but you’d never know it judging by the money trail and the paltry little care packages he has been leaving on doorsteps in The Roads.
After more than a year of reporting no contributions, Diaz de la Portilla’s political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade County, reported a new $275,500 collected in the second quarter this year, through June 30. More than half, or $142,000, is his own money. From where? Who knows? In his divorce case, Diaz de la Portilla has gone after his estranged wife to pay his legal fees. But he has $142K to slip into a PAC account. ADLP listed his profession as a consultant, but the money could have easily come from the sale of another one of the properties he stole, er, bought from his parents.
Read related: Alex Diaz de la Portilla is knocking, giving out mameys to be Miami mayor
The largest outside gift is $100K from David and Leila Centner. Yes, the same Centners who own the private school and who tried to bribe Diaz de la Portilla before, leading to felony political corruption charges filed against him in 2023. Allegedly.
ADLP was removed from his seat by the governor after he was charged with bribery, money laundering and 12 other felonies in September of 2023. He was accused of taking more than $300,000 — $245K in PAC donations and the rest in hotel accommodations, meals and booze — in exchange for getting the commission to agree to give away a public park for the school’s exclusive use most of the time. The Centner Academy, across the street from Biscayne Park, would build a $10 million sports dome that would be open to the public about a third of the time — and probably for a fee.
The criminal charges were dropped last year, but that might only mean that the Broward County State Attorney — who had to handle the case after our own esteemed prosecutor said she had a conflict (again) — didn’t really care too much about it. It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. In fact, the lobbyist arrested with Diaz de la Portilla — attorney William “Bill” Riley, who represented the Centers — is suing them couple to recover thousands of dollars he spent on his defense, saying they let him “take the fall.”
A story from earlier this year in the Miami Herald said Riley’s attorneys say the Centners “feigned ignorance” about the contributions and gifts to ADLP, even though “they well knew what he had done at their specific direction.”
So, is this $100,000 their way of saying “Thank you for not suing us?” Or are they seriously thinking that the park could still be theirs if Diaz de la Portilla miraculously becomes the mayor?
Read related: Public corruption charges dropped against Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla
Diaz de la Portilla is also spending the PAC money like he’s running, burning through almost $110,000 in three months. The PAC spent $108,000 and raised nothing in the first quarter and spent $68,000 and raised nothing in the last two months of 2024.
Of the recent expenses listed, almost $17,000 has gone to Julio Guillen, his family’s longtime gopher and one of his ghosts employees when he was a commissioner. Another $11,000 has gone to Sasha Tirador, the absentee ballot queen who is more at home in Hialeah.
And $3,000 was paid in May for legal compliance services to attorney Yesenia Collazo, the former chairwoman of the Proven Leadership PAC, who also got a rather questionable $175,000 grant from the city’s anti-poverty funds from the former District 1 commissioner five months before he was arrested. Collazo is also billing the city’s taxpayers $208,000 for defending Diaz de la Portilla — one of five attorneys billing a total of $1.3 million — in defense of those very same public corruption charges that were dropped last fall.
What? The Centners can’t pay Collazo directly?
Read related: City of Miami may pay $1.3 mil for Alex Diaz de la Portilla’s criminal defense
The PAC also reported spending at least $13,000 on printing, which you can’t tell by the old collaterals Diaz de la Portilla is dropping off with voters this week. Both of the printed pieces are old.
Hell, there’s even one from when the new pope was named — and that was in early May. People already got this in the mail and now they’re getting it again in his little green bag.
At least $8,100 seems to have gone to Reyes del Mamey, for the typical Cuban fruit Diaz de la Portilla has been passing out at senior housing and dropping off at doorsteps — most recently, with a can of milk so voters can make batidos de mamey.
How sweet.
Maybe they should write a thank you note — to the Centners.
The post David and Leila Centner give fresh $100K to Alex Diaz de la Portilla PAC appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Ralph Rosado’s new Miami D4 staff looks like a who’s who of what the f*ck
Newly elected Miami Commissioner Ralph Rosado has a whole new staff at his District 4 office that are not new to politics. Heck, some of them are not new to Miami.
Rosado’s director of constituent services is Lazaro Quintero, the former director of constituent affairs for Mayor Francis Suarez and the guy who was the go-between for the mayor and developer Rishi Kapoor — who was paying the mayor a $10,000 a month “consulting” fee, an arrangement that is under investigation by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
Quintero was the one who made a call to the zoning department on behalf of Kapoor that paved the way for a zoning waiver and, ultimately, a building permit in late 2022.
Quintero also happens to be the cousin of Gloria Fonts Suarez, the mayor’s wife.
Quintero is clearly Suarez’s man in the D4 office and may be why he in invested $1 million from his political action committee to get Rosado elected. But is he also there to help Rosado achieve the level of success (read: side gigs) that Suarez has reached.
Read related: Francis Suarez, Joe Carollo spend $1.6 million to elect Ralph Rosado in D4
Rosado’s new chief of staff is his old chief of staff from when Rosado was the city manager at North Bay Village. This is a reward for Leo Cosio‘s stalwart campaigning during the election June 3.
“The last month has been a wild ride and I’m grateful for every minute,” he wrote last month on LinkedIn. “From being named a finalist for City Manager of Biscayne Park, to knocking doors for my dear friend and one of the most qualified candidates (now elected official) I’ve ever known, and ultimately deciding to join his team, I am not the same person today that I was just a few weeks ago. This is Leo 4.0!”
Leo 4.0 is paid $159,800 a year. He is the highest paid new D4 staffer. Quintero is next with a salary of $145,631 a year.
Meet the rest of the new staff:
Christian Molina, the deputy chief of staff at $116,400 a year, is also a refugee from North Bay Village, where he was a legislative aid to the manager for 10 months and a chief of staff for the mayor and commission for 11 months. After that, he worked the last eight months as an legislative assistant to Miami-Dade County Public School Board Member Joe Geller.
Jennifer Torna is the commissioners new director of communications. She was the communications manager at the city of North Miami for a year before that and worked at WDNA as a development assistant and membership director for more than five years.
Director of Community Affairs and Special Projects is Alex Duran was the parks and recreation director in the city of Sweetwater for two years and worked as a staff assistant for Marco Rubio for six months when the secretary was a senator. He also served as an executive committeeman for the Miami-Dade Republican Party. He makes $94,500 a year.
Ihosvany Romero, who just got his Bachelor’s degree from Florida International University with a major in political science and government, is the D4 legislative coordinator at $62,300.
Joaquin Bierman gets $59,500 as another legislative coordinator in the D4 office.
Special Projects Coordinator Yovani Pinero was a property management supervisor for three years before he was hired June 10 at a salary of $58,500 a year. He was also on city of Sweetwater’s Neighborhood Improvement Advisory Board.
Milagros Loyal is a known boletera who is now the senior affairs liaison and is paid $55,700 a year. This is likely a reward for her work on the special election, where she collected ballots at the Smathers building. Loyal has worked for the city before — and was fired by Commissioner Miguel Gabela for misusing a city vehicle. But hey, she can get votes.
Notice how there is not one but two legislative coordinators. Does that mean we’re going to see a lot of proposed legislation coming out of Rosado’s office?
Read related: Bromance break-up at Miami City Hall as Joe Carollo and Ralph Rosado split
Rosado, who replaced the late Manolo Reyes, kept five district aides as well as District Director Anna Fernandez and Office Manager Christina Casanova, who las malas lenguas say got a pretty big raise (she makes $87,500 a year now) from Rosado and eyebrows are raised about maybe her having helped the campaign from inside.
Taken together, the District 4 staff is costing the city almost $1.2 million — just in salaries. That does not include benefits and expenses.
Hopefully, it will be worth it to residents.
In Miami-Dade, first day of school jitters come with ICE deportation fears
Forget lunchboxes, backpacks and new sneakers. For thousands of Miami-Dade families, the first day of school comes with a sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs — and it’s not from cafeteria mystery meat.
It’s from the fear that masked, armed ICE agents could storm into the classroom or be waiting for them just outside the school, or that mamá or papá won’t be there to pick them up when the final bell rings.
There is a growing anxiety in Miami-Dade’s immigrant communities, where the 2025-26 school year begins with the regular first day jitters and a side of real fear. In a county where at least 82,000 students are English language learners and many live in “mixed-status” households — where one or some family members may be undocumented — parents and kids are bracing for the possibility that a normal school day could end with a knock on the door from immigration enforcement.
Read related: Miami could join 250 Florida cities with 287g contract to help ICE vs immigrants
And thanks to Miami-Dade’s love affair with the feds — hello, 287(g) program — and the largest school police force in the nation, nobody’s sleeping easy. While the Miami-Dade School Board Police — the largest school police force in the nation — has said they have no formal 287g deal with ICE, plenty of cities where the schools are have signed on the dotted line.
Immigrant advocates know the threat is real. The law now allows federal agents to enter schools with a warrant or “consent,” and that’s enough to keep plenty of families on edge.
There are already missing students thanks to Donald Trump‘s zeal to detain and deport hard-working, non-criminal immigrants in both Miami-Dade and Broward. According to a Miami Herald story, a number of students have already been deported to Colombia and Mexico. One day, they were happy little students in an elementary or middle school classroom and the next, they were gone.
They weren’t snatched at their school. But immigrant families and advocates worry that that’s next. Schools, churches and hospitals — which used to be off limits — are now apparently approved hunting grounds.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools policy, like that of many school districts, is to protect the right of students to education regardless of their immigration status and to keep school environments safe. This includes limiting access to school grounds and student information for immigration officials. Generally, ICE cannot enter a school without a judicial warrant or parental consent, and schools are obligated to contact the district’s legal counsel when ICE agents present themselves.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar’s ‘Dignity Act’ is about zero dignity and all a big act
Teachers urge parents to trust their schools and to not rob their kids of an education. But it’s not the parents robbing them — it’s this cruel president and his administration.
“I understand the impossible decisions you face,” United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats wrote in an Op-Ed in the Herald. “And I know that when families remove their children from school out of fear, it’s an act of love — a desperate attempt to protect what matters most.
“But I ask you now to please consider the powerful gift of education. When your child walks through the doors of a public school, they enter one of the last sacred spaces we still have for hope, growth and community.”
Immigration advocates warn parents to update their kids’ emergency contact cards so a trusted friend or relative — not ICE or the state — picks them up if something happens.
But let’s be clear: this isn’t just about paperwork. It’s about kids in Miami-Dade County starting the school year wondering if their family will still be together by the end of the week. It’s going to be hard to focus on grammar and algebra.
Por si las moscas, here
Here is a list of free legal service providers in Florida from the U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. Here is the National Immigration Legal Services Directory to search for immigration legal services providers by state, county or detention facility. And the American Immigration Lawyers Association can also provide a referral. You can also call them at 1-800-954-0254 for more information.
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Emilio Gonzalez Miami mayoral PAC raises almost $700K in three months
Half a mil is from candidate’s asset management firm
Even before former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez won his lawsuit against the city of Miami for cancelling this year’s election, the retired Army colonel had raised a little more than $750,000 for his mayoral run between his campaign account and his political action committee, Mission Miami.
His campaign account has raised a modest $69,280, according to the campaign finance reports for the second quarter, through June 30. But his PAC, formed in March and chaired by Tallahassee operative Christian R. Camara, raked in a jaw-dropping $681,055 in just three months. And if you think that came in $20 checks from abuelitas, think again.
El pez gordo here is a Wall Street outfit called RIA R Squared — an investment management firm that primarily serves foreign institutional investors. It’s also where Gonzalez has worked for the last five years after leaving the city manager’s job in 2020 under pressure by the commission, primarily Commissioner Joe Carollo. Gonzalez is a partner at R Squared, which manages approximately $1 billion in assets on a “discretionary basis” — and dropped not one, but two $250,000 checks to Mission Miami in April. That’s half a million bucks right there, gente. Enough to buy two condos in Allapattah. Cash.
There’s also a $15,000 contribution from Timothy Patrick Torline, who is a financial advisor at an R Squared subsidiary. And $1,000 from David Kang, the CEO of that subsidiary.
Read related: Third DCA strikes down Miami election change; November ballot is on
“They believe in me,” Gonzalez told Political Cortadito, adding that he does no sales and his company does no business in the state of Florida. “They simply believe in what I stand for and my vision for the city.”
Gonzalez, who has never run for office or had a political action committee before, is starting from scratch and doesn’t have anybody to shake down like Carollo does. He doesn’t have the power of incumbency like Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, whose PAC raised $250,000 in the same period.
The other big donors to the Gonzalez Mission Miami PAC are:
$30,000 in two checks, for $18K and $12K, from Palmetto Bay’s Roger West, CEO of Pyramids Property Management.
$25,000 from SGD Offices, a Doral company with Max Alvarez as one of its principals.
$25,000 from Peninsula 2705 LLC, a North Miami Beach real estate holding.
$23,000 from the law offices of Miguel Inda-Romero.
$10,000 from the Carlos M. De La Cruz Revocable Trust in Key Biscayne.
$10,000 from Maybe Beach attorney Jay Eric Gould.
$10,000 from Juan “J.C.” Flores, a Tallahassee political operative who has worked for Marco Rubio and Carlos Giménez.
$10,000 from Black River Productions, an audio studio in Doral.
On paper, Gonzalez’s own campaign account looks modest by comparison: about $69,000 raised in Q2 from nearly 146 donors, most of them local. Notable names include:
Donald Trump’s Gold Visa puts the American Dream up for sale for $5M
Well, apparently, the “Trump Card” is not the hot-ticket item the salesmen in Mar-a-Lago would have you believe. Sure, the White House bragged that 70,000 people have “expressed interest” in this golden visa to the promised land — but expressing interest is not the same as writing a $5 million check.
One global investment migration firm told Newsweek last week that the real number will be less than 1,000 sales. That’s not even a soft opening in golden visa terms. Why? Maybe because this thing is laughably overpriced — five million bucks up front, and not even as an investment you can get back. It’s a straight-up donation to Uncle Sam’s cash register. That’s five times more than similar deals in Europe where you get a beach, a passport and a bottle of olive oil.
Because living in the U.S. is so much better than, say, Spain, right? Ladra knows several people who are getting their Spanish citizenship, you know, just in case.
Even the pros say that the Gold Card, announced by Donald Trump in a March speech to Congress, is basically a political vanity project with no legal legs. To make it work, the U.S. would have to rewrite the tax code — something a presidential signature alone can’t do. Congress would have to get involved, and Ladra will bet you her cafecito that this Congress can’t even agree on what day it is, much less a new tax category for billionaires on ski holidays.
As one lawyer put it, “I doubt the Trump Card will ever see the light of day.”
Read related: Miami-Dade leaders react to Donald Trump’s new ‘xenophobic’ travel ban
But that hasn’t stopped this transactional administration from selling it. You can “register your interest” right now at TrumpCard.gov — which is an actual official government website that has really zero information. Looks like a third grader design it. It is just basically a grab for a mailing list of rich people from abroad who might be able to help Trump stay in power. It’s laughable how bad it is.
Meanwhile, the old investor visa, the real investor visa — the EB-5 program — has been around since 1990, costs a fraction of the price, and comes with actual job creation requirements. It at least pretended to link the investment to job creation in underserved areas. The Trump Gold Card? Nada. No obligation to help communities, create jobs, or do anything beyond existing with money. If that $5 million goes into a hedge fund or a personal holding company, that’s perfectly fine under this scheme.
Trump’s crew wants to slap his name on a fast-pass for the super-rich that skips the hard parts.
And what couldn’t go wrong with this glitzy little shortcut to citizenship that’s being peddled like a VIP pass to America?
Ladra sees red flags waving like it’s a July 4th parade — except these are the kind that usually come with subpoenas, shell companies, and yachts docked in Dubai.
¿Qué puede salir mal? Everything. Everything can go wrong.:
Money laundering made easy. We’re talking about $5 million per head with no job creation requirement, no vetting for actual economic impact, and no real plan to track where the money goes. That’s not immigration policy — that’s a welcome mat for oligarchs, kleptocrats, and anyone who needs to wash a little dirty money through Uncle Sam’s spin cycle. Think Panama Papers but with a U.S. passport at the end.
National security? What’s that? While everyday visa applicants are getting grilled about their social media and travel history, this program could let people waltz in with a wire transfer and a smile. No one’s asking who they are, what their intentions are, or why they suddenly need to buy a green card. Bad actors — and not the Hollywood kind — would see this as a golden opportunity. Ladra would bet her last croqueta that there’s already a line of shady oligarchs, crypto bros, and tax dodgers getting their paperwork in order.
Accountability black hole. Who’s managing this thing? Who verifies the source of funds? Who ensures the money actually “stimulates” anything beyond luxury condos in Brickell or campaign donations in the shadows? If it’s anything like the EB-5 program — which already had serious fraud and abuse issues — then the Gold Card is EB-5 on steroids. And steroids with no regulation lead to bloated corruption.
Public opinion. You think Americans struggling to pay rent or drowning in student debt are going to be thrilled to watch billionaires buy citizenship like they’re ordering off a wine list? This kind of wealth-based immigration deepens inequality and undermines the entire concept of fairness in the system. Imagine telling a DREAMer they have to wait years in limbo while someone else cuts the line with a checkbook.
Golden gate for political influence. With this kind of cash flowing into the U.S., you’d better believe it won’t stop at real estate. These are the kind of “new Americans” who start PACs, fund candidates, and call senators by their first names at fundraisers. The Gold Card isn’t just a path to residency — it’s a golden key to the backrooms of political power.
Merit-based hypocrisy. Remember all the “merit-based immigration” talk? All that chest-puffing about wanting scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs? Turns out the only merit that matters here is what’s in your offshore account. This isn’t about national interest — it’s about selling the American dream to the highest bidder.
This isn’t immigration reform. It’s not even a policy. It’s a pay-to-stay country club membership that leaves the door wide open to abuse while slamming it shut on everyone else. It makes a mockery of the hard-won, paperwork-heavy, years-long journey that actual immigrants endure — all for the sake of a quick buck in the Treasury.
Read related: Campaign ramps up vs Miami’s Cuban, Republican congressional delegation
The Trump team says the money — that $5 million per wealthy applicant — could go to “help pay down the national debt.” But Ladra’s been around long enough to know what that really means: it disappears into the general fund like loose change in a couch full of lobbyists. One minute it’s earmarked for deficit reduction, the next it’s padding someone’s pet project or quietly covering cost overruns for some bloated defense contractor.
And let’s talk about that “potentially” helping with disaster relief or border security. That’s not a plan. That’s spin. “Potentially” is politician-speak for “we haven’t decided yet, and we hope you don’t ask too many questions.”
Let’s call this what it is: The Trump Gold Card isn’t a visa. It isn’t an immigration policy. It’s a velvet rope. And a scam.
The post Donald Trump’s Gold Visa puts the American Dream up for sale for $5M appeared first on Political Cortadito.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava wants Fire District to pay for air rescue helicopters
Miami-Dade fire union has threatened legal action
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava may want to check her smoke alarms — because firefighters smell something funny rising out of the 2025-26 budget: A sneaky move to shift the estimated $30 million cost of running the countywide air rescue helicopters to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, which is funded out of a different pool of tax dollars.
These are the helicopters that fly critical patients to the hospital to get them there faster and douse brushfires from the skies. And they serve every inch of the county — even the five municipalities that don’t pay a penny into the fire district: Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Key Biscayne. In previous budgets, the county reimbursed the fire department for air rescue out of the general fund.
But facing a $400 million deficit after the expiration of federal COVID rescue funds and the costly birth of constitutional offices — like the shiny new sheriff’s department — Levine Cava is pitching a “fair and balanced” budget that’s light on fluff, but heavy on cuts. Arts and culture grants? On the chopping block. County layoffs? Not off the table.
Air rescue helicopters? That’s on you, now, La Alcaldesa told the fire department. That it will likely cause the fire department to divert funds from other needs. And it could put lives at risk.
Read related: Facing $400M budget shortfall, Miami-Dade cuts senior meals, lifeguards, more
International Association of Firefighters Local 1403 President William “Billy” McAllister says Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is already stretched thin, needing more trucks and more boots on the ground to serve the ever-sprawling western frontier of the county. Response times are suffering. Density and traffic are clogging up everything — and now, they say, the mayor wants to defund the rescue squad in the middle of a slow-motion emergency.
This could mean less firefighters on duty and less trucks on the street. “The goal was to open four units this year,” McAllister told Political Cortadito, adding that they have trucks sitting out of service. “With this, it will be zero.”
He understands that there’s a huge hole in the budget that would be bigger — $430 million — if the county were to take responsibility for air rescue again. But this is going to have a ripple effect across all fire rescue services, McAllister said.
“We’re at a crossroads right now in Miami-Dade County,” he warned. “They are obligating us to carry a portion of their shortfall and disallowing us from increasing service.”
McAllister told Ladra that the budget cut comes as a surprise, again, at the last minute. “The reaction has been one of stalling to try to figure out what to do,” he said, adding that it’s typical of the administration to “run the clock” on something and try not to meet on it.
McAllister almost wasn’t allowed to speak at one of the public town halls the mayor had last week throughout the county. He was told that because he spoke at the public meeting in Westchester Monday, he couldn’t speak at the one in South Dade Wednesday. He eventually did get to speak after telling county staff that the audience was a different group of people.
So the union hired Holland & Knight to prepare a legal challenge — and speak for them. The firefighters are lawyered up.
Love letter from McAllister, President, Metro‑Dade Firefighters Union Local 1403, to Mayor Levine Cava:
“Dear Alcaldesa, we’re putting you on notice: This budget proposal is dangerously short‑sighted.
By forcing Miami‑Dade Fire Rescue to fully fund the county’s air rescue helicopters, you’re sacrificing public safety on the altar of accounting gymnastics. This financial gambit doesn’t just threaten our ability to serve — it actively jeopardizes lives. We intend to hold you and the county accountable.
Our lawyers at Holland & Knight are standing by.”
Love, Billy
Okay, so that’s how Ladra might have said it. Lawyer Miguel De Grandy (who f-ed up the city of Miami redistricting and, well, did it have to be him?) put it differently in his 5-page warning to the mayor.
“This inappropriate and illegal transfer of funding obligations will result in placing an undue, unfair and ultimately damaging burden on the district,” De Grandy wrote. “The proposed additional shift in the funding of the debt service for purchased equipment (namely, fire rescue helicopters) is clearly contrary to the representations and the pledges made in the commission resolution approving the issuance of bonds to purchase this equipment.”
In other words: You bought it, you pay for it.
Read related: Gov. Ron DeSantis sends Florida DOGE squad to sniff out Miami-Dade budget
In 2020, Miami Dade Fire Rescue replaced its aging fleet of helicopters with four new ones, borrowing $70 million to repay over 20 years. The county had previously agreed to contribute to the payment of these costs, but now, that funding has been diverted to offset the budget shortfall. McAllister said that 4 or 5 million of the $28 to $30 million in costs go to debt service for the helicopters. The rest is for operational costs.
Levine Cava issued a statement last week defending her decision because, hey, it isn’t the first time the county slashes its contribution to the fire district. Last year, the county cut $18 million from the funds it provides to the pay for air rescue services,
“Public safety, including fire rescue, remains my top priority as mayor. Regarding the air rescue fund, these costs were moved to the fire budget in the current fiscal year (24-25),” the mayor said in her statement. “It is important to stress that this change had no impact on vital fire rescue services or public safety, and the proposed budget for the coming fiscal year continues to increase funding for Miami Dade Fire Rescue as we have done every year.”
In other words, you get what you get and you don’t get upset. This is nothing new. And you won’t feel a thing.
¡Ay, por favor! The mayor “moved” the cost of air rescue into the Fire District budget last year and now she is patting herself on the back for “increasing” fire funding — when in reality, you just shifted the tab to the 29 municipalities that pay into the district. The helicopters still serve everyone, including the cities that don’t chip in a dime because they opted out of the Fire District and have their own fire rescue departments.
“Ironically, wealthier cities like Coral Gables, Key Biscayne and Miami Beach that opted out of the district would now obtain Air Rescue services at nearly no cost, while several other cities with a significant percentage of residents at or below the poverty line, like Sweetwater and Florida City, pay an inequitably higher cost for these countywide services,” De Grandy wrote.
It smells like the mayor is balancing the budget on the backs of firefighters and taxpayers — and calling it an “increase.” Meanwhile, the FIFA World Cup hosting committee is still getting $46 million to spread among themselves.
Read related: Buyer’s remorse: Kionne McGhee wants refund on $46M to FIFA World Cup
De Grandy also reminded Levine Cava that commissioners said last year that they didn’t want to this be an eternal flame burning away the fire department’s reserves. In other words: Fix this before next year.
“I feel like they are being punished for good bookkeeping,” Commissioner Raquel Regalado said last September of the fire department. Ladra is sure Regalado is going to have a lot to say at the Aug. 20 committee of the whole meeting — which is another way to say special commission meeting — which was her idea in the first place. This one is going to be really special.
The county’s $12 billion budget won’t be finalized until after that meeting — where commissioners aim to tweak and snip at inefficiencies to replace proposed cuts and fee hikes — and two public hearings in September. The new fiscal year starts Oct. 1.
Miami-Dade’s Eileen Higgins gets $250K for new Miami mayoral race PAC
A new political action committee for the Eileen Higgins campaign for Miami mayor raised $250,000 in its first quarter, showing heavy support from real estate developers, engineering firms, lobbyists — and a political committee that tried to elect James Reyes to Miami-Dade sheriff.
Ethical Leadership for Miami filed its first paperwork on March 24, a little more than a week before Higgins filed paperwork for the mayoral race in April. Its chairman is Christian Ulvert, Higgins’ campaign manager. The total contributions through the end of June was $250,700. Her mayoral campaign picked up another $88,325, for a total of just under $340K. The reports combined show that Higgins had also spent $132,000 as of June 30.
Read related: Poll has Eileen Higgins in Miami mayoral runoff with Emilio Gonzalez
The top donors to her PAC so far are:
$50,000 through four different entities that gave $12,500 each from the real estate developer Related Companies, will need the county’s green light for its plan to build two towers with affordable and workforce housing, a hotel and shops in front of Jackson Memorial Hospital in the city’s health district.
$40,000 (in three separate contributions) from Miami-Dade Safe & Secure PC, a PAC that Ulvert used last year for the James Reyes campaign for sheriff
$25,000 from pharmaceutical heiress, Coral Gables resident and super blue donor Barbara Stiefel
$15,000 from real estate development firm PWV Group 1 Holdings, LLC, which manages the Miami Worldcenter site
$10,000 from developer Morgan Sirlin, vice president at Adler Development
$10,000 from LSN partners, a heavy hitting lobbying firm headed by Alex Heckler and Michael Llorente
$8,000 from four firms with the same address tied to Terra Development CEO David Martin
$5,000 from Alex Heckler as an individual
$5,000 from lobbyist Manuel “Manny” Prieguez, a former state rep
$5,000 from Alfonso Costa, COO of Falcone Group, which develops and manages mixed use projects
The bulk of expenditures have been $51,000 for consulting, production of campaign materials, outreach and staffing through Ulvert’s firms, $31,980 for direct mail, campaign materials and a digital buy through MDW Communications, or Michael Worley — who also conducted a poll last month — and $17,112 for fundraising and events.
The report also shows a reimbursement of $2,568 to Higgins and Maggie Fernandez, her chief of staff at the county, for airfare and accommodations and transportation for the Democratic Party’s Blue Gala. But it was at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, so they could have driven.
There are ten other candidates who have filed paperwork to run for mayor Nov. 4 election, including, most notably, former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell, former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez. Commissioner Joe Carollo, former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — who was arrested in 2023 on public corruption charges that were dropped last year — are both threatening to run but haven’t filed anything And Congressman Carlos Gimenez and Miami-Dade Commission Raquel Regalado are rumored to be interested but playing possum.
Qualifying isn’t over until Sept. 20. But it’s enough a clown car already.
Poll has Eileen Higgins in Miami mayoral runoff with Emilio Gonzalez
A poll released by Eileen Higgins‘ own campaign says that the Miami-Dade commissioner is leading the other 10 candidates for Miami mayor by a lot. But there’s no way that anyone can win this clusterbunch election outright. There’s going to be a runoff.
And the only one close to Higgins, according to these numbers, is former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who filed the lawsuit that killed the city’s move to change the election to next year and has gotten a lot of free press from it, helping to position himself as the hero that saved democracy in Miami.
Read related: First lawsuit filed to stop city of Miami from cancelling November election
Not everyone believes an internal poll, because, well, the questions may have been written a certain way and it is unlikely to be announced if the candidate’s numbers come out badly. This poll was announced two hours and 23 minutes before the campaign sent out a fundraising email. So, yeah. But a Higgins-Gonzalez face-off is not impossible. Higgins also enjoys free press from her incumbent position as the district 5 county commissioner and scored a 74% in name recognition, highest in the pack.
Higgins clocked in at 36% support — that’s 21 points ahead of González, who’s sitting at 15%.
In the crowded field, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo — who hasn’t filed any paperwork but is threatening to run — and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who has filed paperwork last month, polled at 11% and 7%, respectively. Both are former mayors with huge amounts of publicity. Former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell got about 12% and the rest of the candidates are either somewhere in the single digits or still introducing themselves to abuela at the bus stop.
Russell, in third place, sees something to celebrate. “When the dynasties aren’t even breaking the top three, we know that Miami is ready for change,” he told Political Cortadito.
Read related: Former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez to file for crowded city mayoral race
Higgins’ enviable name recognition ranks at 74%, with a net +18 favorability. González and Russell are liked by more people than not, but fewer voters know them. Carollo and Suarez? Well… voters know them all right. Just not in a good way.
“This has rapidly evolved into a two-person race, with Commissioner Higgins in a commanding position,” MDW wrote in the polling memo. We’ll see how “commanding” it looks after the attacks start flying.
The only politicians who rated more favorably than Higgins were Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump.
The online survey by MDW Communications (read: Michael Worley), which has been retained by Higgins’ political committee, Ethical Leadership for Miami, which raised $250,000 in the last quarter reported (more on that later). It got 511 likely voters to respond between July 27 and Aug. 1. And yes, it included quick bios of all the candidates. (So everyone got a little PR moment.)
The sample, for you demographic nerds, 58% were Hispanic, 22% non-Hispanic white, 16% Black or Caribbean, and 4% “other.” A majority — 66% — were 55 or older.
And while it’s technically a non partisan race, those are ceasing to exist in the post Trump Miami-Dade. In the poll, Democrats accounted for 41% of the respondents, Republicans for 35% and NPAs or no-party voters for 24%. Higgins and Russell are Democrats. Carollo and Gonzalez are Republicans. Suarez is an NPA. A few other rumored Republican contenders — former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Congressman Carlos Gimenez and Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado — were not included in the poll. Possibly because the rumors are not likely to play out.
The qualifying deadline is Sept. 20.
Read related: Courts killed Miami commission’s election shuffle, but city wants a do-over
The poll also asked about two hot issues:
On the commission’s boneheaded attempt to push the election to 2026 without asking voters first, which has been ruled unconstitutional by the courts — 79% of respondents opposed the date change, with 69% “strongly” opposed. Only 11% supported it, and 9% didn’t care. That’s a big ol’ “don’t even try that again” from Miami voters.
On the watered down proposal for lifetime term limits — which has a loophole cut for both Suarez and Joe Carollo, whose brother, former Miami Commissioner Frank Carollo, is running for his old seat — 71% said they’ll vote yes, 20% said no, and 9% are still thinking about it. That seems like a sure bet. City Commissioner Damian Pardo, who put it on the ballot, must be proud.
Ex Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez cries, prays — maybe walks
Judge seeks legal loophole to let ‘public servant’ off
It was standing room only in Judge Miguel de la O’s courtroom Thursday, and not because people love watching former politicians get sentenced. No, this was a full-fledged cry-in for former Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez, who was at a sentencing hearing for his conviction last year on public corruption charges he has always maintained were politically motivated.
Martinez, 66, is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, by state guidelines. The state attorney’s office, feeling generous, has asked for the minimum, which is almost three years. Attorneys for Martinez want a downward departure with no formal conviction and no time behind bars.
The ex commissioner’s family and a parade of supporters — including State Rep. Omar Blanco, Miami-Dade Commissioner Keon Hardemon, former Miami-Dade budget director Jennifer Moon, Kendall activist Michael Rosenberg and numerous police officers (Martinez was a cop before he was an elected) — provided emotional testimony to try keep him out of prison,
And it just might work.
Read related: Joe Martinez suspended hours before final budget hearing; no replacement
Judge de la O did something rarely seen in courtrooms: he openly admitted he didn’t want to send the defendant to prison. But — and it’s a big legal but — he’s not sure he’s allowed to be that soft.
“I am not taking Mr. Martinez into custody,” de la O is quoted as saying in the Miami Herald, practically pleading with attorneys on both sides to help him find a legal off-ramp. “But the fact that I want downward departure doesn’t mean I can. If I can do it legally, I will. I don’t want to send you to prison.”
So, instead of throwing the book, de la O — honored in by The Florida Bar with the William M. Hoeveler Judicial Professionalism Award for his outstanding service, “strength of character, competence, commitment and civility as a jurist, lawyer and public servant” — punted sentencing to Sept. 15, giving both the prosecution and the defense three more weeks an homework: Come up with case law to support or oppose leniency.
Martinez was convicted last November of accepting $15,000 in what prosecutors said was a pay-to-play scheme in which he got paid to write legislation that would allow more refrigerated containers outside a West Kendall supermarket. It was never voted on. But that still counts as a crime because the law is about intent, prosecutors argued, and the jury agreed.
Tears, uniforms, and character witnesses
Martinez didn’t speak at the sentencing, which may have been smart, since the state’s beef is that he still hasn’t shown any remorse. And they don’t like that. He still says he’s innocent of any wrongdoing and is fighting the guilty verdict.
But his wife, his daughter and old police buddies did plenty of talking — and sobbing — for him. Some grown men, like former Doral Police Chief Ricky Gomez, openly wept while describing Martinez as a “collection of good deeds.
“Incarceration will not do anything,” Gomez told the judge.”It’s already ruined his career.”
Blanco also pleaded with the judge for compassion. He later told Ladra that he knew about the hearing and decided to stop out of loyalty. Martinez didn’t ask him to, he said.
Read related: Joe Martinez claims public corruption charge is really a political hatchet job
“The guy was always here for me and my firefighters when we needed him,” said Blanco, who was the president of the Miami-Dade chapter of the International Association of Firefighters. “I just felt like I had to be there as a character witness.”
Blanco talked about Martinez helping the fire department get much-needed life-saving equipment. “When it came to public safety, he understood. He never wavered,” Blanco told Political Cortadito. “My experience with him is that he’s always been about public service.”
The judge basically told the state rep that the legislature tied his hands and challenged him to change that.
Rosenberg, who co-founded the Pets’ Trust initiative and is the longtime president of the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations, lightened the mood with his particular municipal-minded humor. Rosenberg — who said the Pets’ Trust referendum “wouldn’t have happened without Joe” — had two suggestions for the judge to consider as sentences: Hundreds of hours of community service with animals, of course, or sentence him to be on the county commission again.
Except that second option might be cruel and unusual punishment.
But the most emotional pleas naturally came from Joe’s wife of 29 years, Ana — who tearily called Martinez her “safe space” and begged the court not to her husband — and his namesake daughter, Joana, who was practically hysterical and had to be comforted by her father. Almost everyone in the courtroom was crying.
“He’s an honest man,” said Joana Martinez, who was on The Voice Season 17 in 2019 and made it to the top 10 live show. “My dad is no threat to the community.”
She also directed herself to her father: “I love you pop.”
From Farm Share hero to convicted felon
Martinez had a long career in law enforcement, starting as a Kendall patrol officer, before becoming a five-term commissioner, including two stints as chair. He was known in West Kendall for hosting movie nights, Farm Share food drives, and Crime Watch meetings. He once ran into a burning building. Another time, he stared down a narco with a gun.
But none of that saved him from the trial, where prosecutors said Martinez was desperate for money in 2016 and 2017 — helping a supermarket owner push friendly legislation in exchange for three $5,000 payments.
Read related: State attorney: Joe Martinez broke our trust for $15,000, help with bank loan
The charges — unlawful compensation and conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation — came in 2022, five months after an Inspector General first raised red flags. Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him a month later, and the case finally went to trial last fall. After he was convicted, he asked for a new trial and was denied. Now all that’s left is sentencing, which could be 34.5 months or 20 years.
Prosecutors are asking for the minimum. Martinez’s team, led by Ben Kuehne, wants house arrest or probation, arguing that his client’s “unusual and exceptional” life qualifies for mercy.
“He’s convicted. He’s been punished,” Kuehne said. “He’s not getting away with anything.”
But, isn’t he?
A different kind of injustice?
Ladra can’t help but note that ordinary people get jail time for far less. How many other convicted felons get a judge lobbying for leniency on their behalf from the bench?
And let’s be real: If Martinez had stolen diapers or food instead of the public trusts, he’d probably already be in a jumpsuit.
Yes, the tears were real. But so was the corruption.
For now, though, Martinez is still free. His fate hangs on whether a judge can legally do what his heart wants to do — let a powerful man with a track record of “good deeds” walk.
We’ll see in September.
The post Ex Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez cries, prays — maybe walks appeared first on Political Cortadito.
