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.

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It is a fact that firefighters get cancer and die of cancer at a higher rate than the rest of us — 14% higher. Study after study shows that job-related cancer is the number one killer of firefighters.
It is a fact that no fewer than 45 states have addressed this issue by passing laws that provide additional cancer coverage or health benefits for them.
It is a fact that a bill to extend cancer coverage for firefighters has sailed through and is certain to pass in the Florida Senate and has a whopping 82 sponsors in the House. That’s two thirds of the membership — more bipartisan support than any other bill this year, or perhaps any year ever, practically guaranteeing passage.
But Rep. Jose Oliva, as the Republican Speaker of the House, is holding the bill hostage, refusing to send it to committee or take it to the floor. And it’s not because he is too busy trying to arm teachers in our schools. Or because he is concerned about the potential impact to municipal government budgets. This legislature is not shy about passing unfunded mandates.
Oliva gave some lame excuse about home rule. “This is an issue best dealt with at the county level as each department faces varying levels of danger and exposure and counties are best equipped to tailor benefits to need within available resources,” he said in a statement.
But that is BS. There is no difference in levels of danger from municipality to municipality, which, by the way, have multi-agency agreements to work together. There is no difference in levels of danger from state to state.
“This is something that didn’t discriminate along county lines,” said Sen. Anitere Flores, the sponsor in the Senate.
Read related: GOP gets desperate in Hialeah senate race against David Perez
The fact is Oliva won’t move the House bill to punish firefighters statewide for supporting one of their own, Coral Gables Firefighter David Perez, against former State Rep. Manny Diaz, Jr. in the 2018 senatorial race that Diaz eventually won.
Former State Rep. Frank Artiles — who is close to Oliva and has been a staple in his office even before he gets the green light to lobby next week — basically threatened as much on Facebook during the campaign.
“Good luck on your cancer presumption bill next year… I see a 4 stop bill in your near future,” wrote Artiles — who was forced to resign in 2017 after he made some very racist statements in a drunken rant — on a David Perez Facebook post.
If that’s not proof that this is political payback, Ladra doesn’t know what is.
Artiles has a grudge against firefighters. He basically ranted to Ladra about them during Dade Days in 2013.
And yes, he had a couple of drinks in him.
“Their jobs are ridiculous. They hardly fight fires. They work 24 hours on and 48 off,” he told Ladra outside a bar in Tallahassee. We were standing alongside then State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz and former State Rep. Robert Asencio, who was there in his pre-elected role as president of Florida Public Employees Partnership. When Asencio and Ladra asked for proof of his allegations, Artiles admitted his real reason for the hate: Firefighters unions had mailed six mailers against Central Florida Republicans that year. “They went after my boys,” he said.
Read related: Tales from Tallahassee — quick observations from Dade Days
House Bill 857 would require municipal governments to provide full cancer coverage, including disability and death benefits, to firefighters who meet a certain criteria, like being non-smokers and on the job for at least five years. Instead of workman’s comp, firefighters who are diagnosed with any of several specific cancers in the bill would get a lump sum one-time $25,000 payment, money that can help their families pay for the healthcare and keep their homes.
Again, 45 states have adopted similar laws. That’s 45 out of 50, indicating that it is the right way to go.
Supporters say the measure is necessary to account for the increased risk of cancer due to not only smoke inhalation but exposure to carcinogens and burning toxic substances in building materials, such as asbestos. All those boots on the state capitol steps are from firefighters who are sick or have died of cancer.
Critics, which include the League of Cities, say it forces an unfunded mandate on municipalities that are already stretched thin.
But the truth is the $5 million estimated impact it would statewide is a drop in the bucket in Florida, where, just last year, the legislature approved $147.5 million worth of budget turkeys, otherwise known as individual appropriations that circumvent the thorough and thoughtful committee and budget process, most of the time for legislator’s pet projects.
The truth is this bill’s blockage has nothing to do with the budget. This is nothing more than political payback. At its ugliest.
Oliva hasn’t even had the courtesy to respond to the firefighters who call him or the relatives that have traveled to Tallahassee to advocate for the bill. Juan Garcia, father of Ralf Garcia — a Miami Fire firefighter paramedic (photo, right) who died in 2015 of brain cancer at the age of 28 — wrote Oliva a personal letter that was hand-delivered by Omar Blanco, president of the Miami-Dade firefighters union two weeks ago. Y nada. ¡Que descaro!
All the firefighters and their families want is for the merits of the bill to be discussed by the members of the House and not decided upon by one man who has made himself God in this case.
“We just want an opportunity to present our situation,” said Claudine Buzzo, a Miami-Dade firefighter diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2016, who was out of work for four months to get treatment.
“He is not even allowing us to be heard and that’s what’s baffling,” Buzzo told CBS4’s Jim DeFede on Facing South Florida. “We don’t know what the reason is. He won’t even speak with us.”
Yeah, we know why.
Call Oliva today and demand that House Bill 857 be heard. Skip the office number. Call him on his cellphone at 305-761-6144. Text him. Tell him to put political payback aside and do the right thing.

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