The race for Hialeah mayor — which was already shaping up to be a good old-fashioned street fight with chancletas flying — has turned into a full-blown telenovela. And the one smiling quietly in the corner right now is Council President Jesús Tundidor, who’s watching both of his rivals trip over their own scandals just weeks before Election Day.
First, there’s the sitting mayor, Esteban “Jackie” García-Roves, who apparently decided the building code didn’t apply to her. The Miami Herald broke that little gem earlier this month: unauthorized additions to her home, built without permits. Maybe she thought inspectors would just look the other way — it is Hialeah, after all. But it’s never a good look when the one in charge of enforcing the city’s rules gets caught breaking them herself.
Read related: René García ditches Hialeah mayoral race — after stirring the political pot
According to the Herald article, records from the Hialeah Building and Code Compliance Department show Garcia-Roves’s property is currently under an active code violation for “building without a permit.” An inspector noted the violations were for “addition, awning, re-roof, fence, and columns,” and provided photographs that documented the changes made to the Hialeah home, like roof extensions in the back and a cement wall where there was none.
The Herald also found Miami-Dade Property Appraiser records that show one of the roof extensions could be for an addition to the home, like a guest room or an efficiency.
Then, just when García-Roves thought the heat was off, Bryan Calvo managed to hand Tundidor another gift — courtesy of his own family’s tax mess.
According to another Herald story, Calvo, who loves to talk about integrity and transparency, lived for years in a home that was receiving a low-income senior property tax exemption that his parents weren’t actually entitled to. Yep. The “senior” exemption. For low-income households.
Except young Bryan wasn’t exactly low-income. He was a Harvard student, later a law school grad, and a Hialeah City Councilman earning $44,000 a year — all while living in a house that got a tax break meant for abuelitas living on Social Security.
The County Property Appraiser’s Office eventually caught it, thanks to an anonymous phone call from a concerned neighbor (and you know that’s Hialeahese for “someone from the other campaign”). The Calvos had to cough up $5,282.97 in back taxes and penalties.
Calvo says it was all a misunderstanding. That his parents applied, not him. That he didn’t even know about it. That nobody meant any harm. Sure, m’ijo. And the dog ate the homestead paperwork, too.
Read related: Three former Hialeah mayors ‘host’ quiet fundraiser for Jackie Garcia-Roves
He told the Herald that his parents just wanted to protect the family home “like many Hialeah families.” But here’s the difference — most Hialeah families don’t have a Harvard-educated son running for mayor while taking a senior exemption.
The house is pictured in 2022 on the left and more recently on the right. Notice all the changes.
This isn’t the first time Calvo’s image as a clean-cut reformer has taken a ding. Remember, he’s already had to resign from the City Council to run for office and was hit with residency questions during his run for Tax Collector. The guy’s got more explanations than campaign slogans at this point.
Meanwhile, Tundidor — who’s been keeping a low profile and focusing on talking about infrastructure and fiscal management (imagine that, issues!) — is looking more and more like the only adult in the room.
So now, with two opponents dragging their baggage behind them — people are starting to get tired of the excuses and García-Roves’ little construction scandal didn’t exactly inspire confidence either — Jesús Tundidor is walking into the final stretch of the race with what may be the most precious thing in Hialeah politics: a relatively clean record.
At least, so far. Because in Hialeah, as we all know, that can change faster than you can say permiso de construcción.

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Hialeah’s first budget hearing for 2025-26 last week turned into another political telenovela, with interim Mayor Jacqueline Garcia-Roves and Councilman Jesús Tundidor digging into their rival tax-cut proposals like two kids fighting over the last croqueta. And since the council is still missing a seventh member to break ties, nothing got done Thursday. Nada.
The meeting will be reconvened Monday evening to continue. Maybe this time they can vote on something.
Read related: Dueling tax cut proposals in Hialeah means campaign season is in full gear
Garcia-Roves, who wants to keep the mayor’s chair in November, floated a 1% cut to the millage rate. That would save the average homeowner about $11 a year and businesses about $248. Ladra has seen bigger discounts in a clearance bin at Sedano’s. Still, the city’s first female mayor — although interim — is also promising more: she wants the city to eat the $12.5 million in water and sewer fee hikes from the county, drop the $3.7 million franchise fee for electrical service, and cover an $852,000 bump in garbage fees.
Add it up, and the average homeowner could save about $306 a year under the interim alcaldesa‘s plan.
Tundidor — who just so happens to also be running for mayor — thinks that’s crumbs. He wants a 10% cut in the millage rate, which would mean $200 or more in savings.
But his plan would blow a $13 million hole in the budget. Hialeah’s finance director called it unaffordable, warning it could mean pink slips for 88 firefighters or 63 cops. Tundidor waved that away, insisting the money could come from Public Works reserves, which city officials say can’t legally be used. But hey, what’s a law or two in Hialeah?
If this all sounds familiar, it’s because it is.
The last time Hialeah played tax-cut roulette was under Mayor Carlos Hernández in 2013. He handed residents a 1% break and left the city $3.2 million short. The fallout? Furloughs, pay cuts, padlocked parks, shuttered pools, pension hits, and the exodus of more than a hundred cops and firefighters. A decade later, the City of Progress is still fixing roofs and relighting parks from that mess.
Hernandez is reportedly backing Garcia-Roves (so are former mayors Esteban “Steve” Bovo and Julio Robaina)
Read related: Three former Hialeah mayors ‘host’ quiet fundraiser for Jackie Garcia-Roves
Firefighters Union President Eric Johnson wanted the council that this is déjà vu. “We are here today because of bad governance in the past,” said Johnson, who later told Political Cortadito he had no intention of speaking, but couldn’t help himself.
“Continuing to do the same things and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.”
Meanwhile, council members bickered like it was a campaign debate. With five council seats and the mayor’s race all on the ballot this year, nobody wants to be the bad guy raising taxes — or the fool cutting too deep. And with Hialeah still basking in its Trump-Ave. glow, the pressure is on to prove Republican leaders can hand out relief like Democrats promise freebies.
The first budget hearing will continue at 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 501 Palm Ave., and can also be seen on the city’s YouTube page.
A second public budge hearing is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 25. The city has until Sept. 30 to pass something or it reverts to last year’s budget. Which, knowing Hialeah, might be exactly what happens.

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It must be election season in Hialeah because, suddenly, everybody wants to give away tax cuts like they’re pastelitos.
Interim Mayor Jacqueline “Jackie” Garcia-Roves — who is running to keep the job she was handed when former Mayor Esteban Bovo went to D.C. to lobby and be with his wifey — called a press conference at a Hialeah housing complex last month to promise abuelitos a 1% cut in the city’s property tax rate.
It amounts to about $25 a year back in taxpayers’ pockets, just in time for them to maybe remember her fondly at the ballot box in November.
But here’s the kicker: that “gift” to residents would blow a $1.3 million hole in the city’s budget. And if history is any guide, Hialeah doesn’t exactly recover gracefully from these kinds of political sugar highs. Remember Carlos Hernandez’s tax cut in 2013? That one cost $3.2 million, gutted pensions, shut down pools and libraries, forced furloughs, and sent first responders packing. The city is still patching the potholes from that financial disaster.
Read related: René García ditches Hialeah mayoral race — after stirring the political pot
Garcia-Roves insists this time is different. Sure. She’s also promising to absorb Miami-Dade’s water and sewer hikes (to the tune of $12.5 million), scrap the water franchise fee ($3.7 million in lost revenue), and cover rising trash collection costs. In all, her plan would strip $18.3 million from city revenues. She says there’s a $61 million surplus, but the numbers in her own budget only show $49.3 million. Math is apparently as flexible as politics in Hialeah.
The Interim Alcaldesa said at the press conference that she asked all the department directors to slash and burn and bring her a 5% reduction in their budgets. “To show me where they’re going to save, how they can save, and that’s how the money will be replenished.”
Uh-huh.
And just to make sure nobody gets left out of the political piñata, Councilman Jesús Tundidor — who is also running for mayor against Garcia-Roves — has scheduled his own press conference Tuesday to roll out his tax cut plan. Of course he has. Because in Hialeah, no one can resist playing “who can give away more for less?” during campaign season.
Read related: Bryan Calvo becomes first candidate to file for November Hialeah mayor’s race
Tundidor promises nothing less than “the largest property tax reduction in Hialeah’s history,” which sounds more like a campaign slogan than a budget plan. The release says it will deliver “immediate and meaningful relief to residents’ wallets” while still keeping the city’s finances solid. Ladra can’t wait to hear the details of how he squares that circle.
“One percent is enough to buy a cafecito,” Tundidor told Political Cortadito Monday. He said his plan is going to more than double that — and without raiding the reserves — because he has identified “millions and millions” of dollars parked in capital improvement projects that can wait.
“I found some projects that aren’t really that urgent,” Tundidor said. “Cuando las cosas están dura, you kind of put things on hold.”
Tundidor is bringing Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomás Regalado along for the show, er, press conference in the lobby at City Hall, 501 Palm Ave., at 1 p.m. Tuesday, like some kind of fiscal padrino to bless the move.
Read related: Hialeah mayor, councilman clash over tax collector election endorsement
Let’s not forget, however, that former councilman and mayoral candidate Bryan Calvo — who bailed last year to run (and lose) in the Republican primary for Miami-Dade tax collector — actually pitched a tax cut of his own at last year’s budget hearing. But Bovo shut him down hard, calling the idea “irresponsible” and nothing more than a politically expedient stunt.
Calvo had tried to sell it as giving residents “a little money back” to offset rising costs. Same as Garcia Roves wants to do this year. Of course, back then, he was running for tax collector.
But hey, election season means short memories and big promises, right?
Meanwhile, the city is still being sued by Miami-Dade over $18 million in unpaid water and sewer bills. But hey, let’s not let lawsuits or fiscal reality get in the way of an election-year gimmick.
As firefighter union president Eric Johnson reminded commissioners (again), it all sounds great in political soundbites, but we’ve been down this road before: cuts now, chaos later. “Is it worth closing parks for our children? Is it worth reducing public safety, where mere seconds could affect the outcome of lives?” he asked.
Good questions. But in Hialeah, politicians are too busy trying to outdo each other’s campaign giveaways to stop and answer.
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