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 a five-hour public comment marathon had already made their point loud and clear: stop cutting the groups that hold this community together and the services that help the most vulnerable survive.
It was a chorus. From arts advocates to eviction defense lawyers, from domestic violence shelters to drug treatment programs, speaker after speaker begged the county to restore the dollars slashed from the hundreds of nonprofit Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) that teach kids to read, help the disabled get to the doctor, or give families one last chance before losing their homes.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who had been walking back parts of her proposal since July, tried to sweeten the bitter pill early in the night, announcing that she had closed the $402 million gap with some “carryover funds” and reserves and walking back some of her more unpopular proposals. No more parking fees at county parks. No increase in the gas tax. The county would keep paying for air rescue services so it doesn’t come out of the fire district’s budget. This year, anyway (more on that later).
Read related: Mayor Daniella Levine Cava wants Fire District to pay for air rescue helicopters
“The voices of our residents shaped this process, and you guided us to where we are today,” Levine Cava said, trying her best to sound like everybody’s abuela. Sweet, but stern at the same time. “We heard you loud and clear.”
Actually, she counted votes, not voices. La Alcaldesa didn’t have the votes to pass the budget without removing the hike to the gas tax and restoring some of the non-profit monies to the CBOs. Not that it would be enough. Representatives from some organizations said that only 100% restoration of their grants would be acceptable. They sounded a little entitled. But you might be pissed too, if you took the time to go downtown, paid $20 for parking, and waited to speak for a whole 60 seconds just to see distracted commissioners on their phones and whispering to each other.
It was a 12-hour meeting so the snacks are expected. But some of the audience said later they felt invisible.
Levine Cava sounded very defensive throughout the meeting. Maybe she is sick of being attacked over a budget that is just as much the commission’s fault as her own. There is enough blame to go around. At one point Levine Cava even suggested that the commissioners give their discretionary funds — which total in the millions and usually go to pet projects and payback gifts — to the general fund to plug the rest of the holes.
Like that’s gonna happen. Commissioner Eileen Higgins was repeatedly very vocal about how gracious and generous she was for giving her district’s school red light camera money back to the general fund. All $17,000 of it! She dared her colleagues to do the same. Some of those districts have more schools so they have millions. But nobody took her up on it.
Read related: Miami-Dade County commission set for budget showdown, hearing Thursday
Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez ate up an hour and 10 minutes grilling practically every department director on very specific details about line items. Some of the questions were valid — How many positions do we need for “public engagment” and PR? How many functions overlap? But they also seem to be things he should have asked before the public hearing. Oh, wait… but then he couldn’t use it for an Instagram reel. Or maybe he was showing off for his brother in the audience.
Ditto for the surprise twist near the end when Commissioner Oliver Gilbert — who misses the protagonist role of chair — went on and on about how the county shouldn’t be paying for The Underline (more on that later).
Transit was a big issue, drawing several speakers to blast the commission for proposing increased rates for buses and Metrorail, increasing fees for specialized transportation services to the disabled and cancelling Metro Connect, which would save $11 million (more on all that later). A few speakers also urged the county to divest from Israel bonds (more on that later).
And trash fees were increased by a little less than 1%. That almost failed, with commissioners Danielle Cohen Higgins, René “Call Me Senator” Garcia, Gonzalez, Natalie Milian Orbis and chairman Anthony Rodriguez voting no. (A lot more on trash and garbage later).
Rodriguez said the budget had “come a long way” and patted himself on the back for keeping taxes low. Easy to say when you don’t need MetroConnect to get to your third job, or the grocery store.
But plenty of pain remains in the $12.9 billion budget.
Commissioner Marleine Bastien said it had not come far enough for the people of District 2, which she said has been neglected for too long. “Every year, the budget provides the opportunity to correct those wrongs. Every year, I see that we do not,” Bastien said, citing specifically road resurfacing and storm water drainage improvements that are needed, but not funded.
“You have chosen for decades to underfund communities like mine, and I see that this budget continues this trend,” Bastien told her colleagues. “Enough is enough.”
Read related: Facing $400M budget shortfall, Miami-Dade cuts senior meals, lifeguards, more
Commissioner Milian Orbis, who was appointed to replace Kevin Cabrera — who must be thrilled to have missed this meeting as the new ambassador to Panama — was also upset about cuts in her district, saying that the Ludlam Trail funding had not been restored and asked for it to be put back in time for the second hearing Sept. 18.
Taking notes the whole time, Commissioner Raquel Regalado — who made it very clear she is ready to be the next county mayor — will have had another appropriations committee meeting to tackle more line items. Regalado, who forced a budget workshop at her committee meeting last month, worked hand in hand with Levine Cava to present the new “change memo” budget with the reduced reductions.
“None of it was done lightly and none of it was easy,” Regalado said, speaking around 1 a.m. like an accountant wired on Pilón. She promised to keep hunting for loose change in the couch cushions.
“I’m going to keep looking for more,” she said, referring to efficiencies to find — or projects and expenses to put off for another year. And she agreed with Gilbert about the budget being an every day thing. “We literally change our budget every time we sit on this dais.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a ledger. It’s not magic. It’s math,” she said.
Commission Vice Chair Kionne McGhee, the champion of the non-profits, held the gavel for a while, and offered a kinder, gentler and more encouraging master of ceremonies than King Rodriguez.
“I’m proud of you,” he told more than one speaker, thanking them. At one point, he told the crowd to hush because a woman was speaking. “Beth is about to land this plane. However… Beth needs respects.” He later asked a guy named Samuel if he was nervous. “Don’t be. Ready? Let’s do it.”
Was he pandering a little bit? Yeah. Does it still feel good after the chancletazos we get from A-Rod? Right again.
At some point in the meeting, both McGhee and Gilbert recused themselves because of their association with non-profits. But if everyone who served on a non-profit recused themselves, there’d never be a quorum for the budget vote. And maybe that’s why the CBO grants should not be handled like gifts in what’s become a cottage industry (more on that later).
Read related: Shady charity with political ties gets $450K from Miami-Dade Commission
There was also a little spat between Levine Cava and Commissioner Rene “Call Me Senator” Garcia. , who said she was “a little misleading the way you’re crafting this budget.” He said the public trust had been eroded by the consent change of numbers and the lack of direct answers on figures like the ones he asked for on budgeted unfilled positions. If the positions are unfilled for six months or longer, he reasoned, why can’t those salaries be put back into the general fund pot?
“It’s not an increase here. It’s not an increase there,” Garcia said. “It’s aggregate. And people are hurting.
“We need to shrink the size of government. We don’t have a revenue problem. We have an expenditure problem.”
La Alcaldesa was not shy about pushing back and said it was “not accurate” to say there were not cuts being made. More than 375 positions — including some lifeguards — had been eliminated or disappeared through attrition. The remaining open funded positions — which change on a regular basis as employees in a 31,000-person organization come and go — are needed to keep services at current levels and to keep overtime costs down.
“There are also positions in the commission budget that are vacant and you should look at those as well,” DLC told the chair.
Boom!
At one point it seemed like she almost got up from her seat to confront him. But the daggers her eyes were enough to make Garcia, realizing he sorta looked like a bully, apologize.
Read related: Buyer’s remorse: Kionne McGhee wants refund on $46M to FIFA World Cup
Meanwhile, what is there still money for? Miami-Dade is handing out $46 million in services and subsidies to FIFA for the World Cup parties. Gilbert said this was an “obligation” the county entered into when we lured the games here. But that does not seem as important an obligation as air rescue services, or feeding abuelitos, or providing more domestic violence beds (more on that later). And the Sheriff’s Office is being made whole to the tune of  more than $1 billion while slicing eviction defense funds from $2 million to $1 million. This after the mayor herself promised back in April to increase the eviction project to $3 million. Oops.
By the end of the night, Levine Cava admitted many of her fixes were “unsustainable” — and projected shortfalls don’t get prettier.
Round Two is set for next Thursday, Sept. 18, at the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW First Street. It can also be seen online at the city’s website and on YouTube. If last week’s first hearing was any indication, y’all better pack a pillow.
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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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Looks like Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar is still allergic to her own constituents. Like other Republican lawmakers across the country who keep ducking the angry mobs that want to roast them over tariffs and immigration, Miami’s own absentee rep is no different.
Enter Richard Lamondin. Never heard of him? You’re not alone. He’s a Miami-born entrepreneur, an environmental guy with no political résumé, but plenty of chutzpah. And tomorrow night he’s stepping onto the stage Salazar won’t touch: an actual town hall.
That’s right. While La Elvira hides behind press releases and Fox News hits, this newbie is inviting people to St. James Baptist Church in Coconut Grove to talk about real issues — healthcare, housing, small business survival, immigration, all the stuff people have been wanting to scream at Salazar about but never get the chance because she won’t face them.
Lamondin’s pitch is simple: The difference in leadership has never been more clear. Salazar won’t show up. I will.
Read related: Cuban American congress members stay silent on TPS, immigrant detention
There could be another Democrat biting at the chance to face Salazar heading into an August primary with Lamondin. Robin Peguero, a former prosecutor who was a lawyer for the U.S. House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot who lives in Coral Gables and teaches at St. Thomas University’s College of Law. Former Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey, who lost a primary to Miami-Dade School Board Member Lucia Báez-Geller — who decided to try for Florida House District 106 against Rep. Fabián Basabe instead (more on that later) — withdrew from the race last month, three months after he announced, and endorsed Peguero.
“We need someone who understands the legal process inside and out, who comes from an immigrant family, who converses with ease in a district where people speak to you first in Spanish, then English,” Davey said. Peguero’s father is from the Dominican Republic and his mother is from Ecuador.
Now, are either of these political newbies ready for Congress? Who knows?
Salazar, a Cuban American, is one of three Republican congressional incumbents in Florida being targeted this cycle by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The other two are Cory Mills (District 7, Deltona) and Anna Paulina Luna (District 13, Seminole). But this is familiar territory for Salazar, who faced nationally-backed opponents each year since she beat Democratic U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala in 2020. Despite that, Salazar won re-election last year with more than 60% of the vote.
Lamondin’s green — and not just in the eco-business sense. But one thing’s certain: if he keeps showing up where Salazar won’t, voters are going to notice.
Read related: Internal poll has Richard Lamondin in striking distance vs Maria Elvira Salazar
And he already has lined up some key people to help him amplify his message, aside from uber political consultant Christian Ulvert, who is handling his campaign. Lamondin will be joined Tuesday by representatives from the ACLU of Florida, a group of pastors, and dozens of Miami residents who are tired of watching their congresswoman disappear when it’s getting hot in here.
The town hall is from 7 to 830 p.m. Tuesday at St. James Baptist Church, 3500 Charles Ave.
So maybe Lamondin isn’t just some political rookie tilting at windmills. Maybe he’s found Salazar’s weak spot: She can’t take the tough questions from the people she supposedly represents.
And if María Elvira Salazar won’t show up for her constituents, why should her constituents show up for her next November?

If you would like to see Ladra write more about next year’s midterms in Florida, consider making a contribution to Political Cortadito. And thank you for supporting independent, grassroots government watchdog journalism. 

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Well, it’s that time of year again when homeowners open their mailboxes and get that little love letter from their city: the tax bill. And in at least nine Miami-Dade cities, it’s going to sting more than usual. Some of these hikes are jaw-dropping.
But for property owners in Pinecrest, it’s not as bad as it could be. In July, the city council approved a ceiling tax rate of 3.86 — or $3.86 per $1,000 of taxable property — which was a 64% tax rate increase. Sixty-four. That’s not a typo.
People got really riled up, however, and after three budget workshops — where one imagines there was screaming and chairs thrown — the council lowered that rate to 2.503, which amounts to an increase of about 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. The average home in Pinecrest is valued at $2.1 million and that homeowner would pay an additional $314 in taxes under the proposed 20125-26 budget.
This is the rate that will be discussed at the first pubic hearing Tuesday.
“Resident input played a key role in guiding the Council’s decision-making, leading to the newly proposed lower rate,” says an update on the city’s website. So, now it’s only a proposed 6.5% increase.
Does that mean that the village pulled a bait and switch, intentionally setting a high limit to make a smaller increase more palatable? As in, ‘Whew, we dodged a bullet?’ But not really.
While residents will see the higher 3.86 millage rate figure on their tax bills, “this was solely a statutory requirement and not the final rate under consideration,” the Pinecrest website states. Florida law requires municipalities to set a proposed millage rate each July. Municipalities can go lower, but cannot go higher than this figure. And they can go lower still through the final budget hearing Sept. 16.
Read related: Miami-Dade’s billion-dollar disconnect: Tax collector flush, county in the red
During the budget process, people expressed concern that the increase was to pay for a discount version of The Return of Parrot Jungle and what some have said are unneeded projects like the SUP.
No, not ‘Sup, like your teenager greets you. SUP stands for “shared use path,” and the one on Ludlam Road could cost taxpayers a cool $4 million for just one stretch. That’s the second phase of a bigger plan to lace 11.2 miles of SUPs across the leafy village, with curbs and road widening included, because Mayor Joe Corradino apparently thinks Pinecrest is the Netherlands.
Because it is a predominantly residential community with limited commercial businesses and no industrial properties or tourism revenue, Pinecrest relies heavily on property taxes to fund nearly all village services. Mirroring Miami-Dade, this year’s budget process in Pinecrest has been challenging, with budget pressures that include:

Police equipment upgrades and competitive compensation to retain officers.
Inflation affecting insurance, materials, and operational costs.
Reduced state and federal funding.
Essential infrastructure maintenance.
Maintaining a $5 million emergency reserve for disaster response and federal funding delays.

The village has announced that it will still fund the following capital improvement projects:

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Looks like there’s a new kid sniffing around the mayor’s race. Well, not exactly a kid — he’s 51 — but definitely new to Miami’s political playground.
Fred Voccola, a tech bro with a billion-dollar company under his belt and its name on the arena where the Miami Heat play, is suddenly flirting with a run for city mayor. Why? Because he’s sooooo frustrated with corruption and “all this crap that goes on in City Hall.”
Ladra has to ask: Was it really the city’s failed stunt to delay the election, as he says, that finally pushed him over the edge? Or was it Mayor Francis Suarez whispering in his ear? You know? One tech bro to another.
Because this smells a little like a Baby X recruitment project. Suarez, who is termed out, needs someone to protect his “legacy” as the crypto-tech mayor and see his pet projects through. And while his dad has indicated an intention to run, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who was also the first Cuban-born mayor of Miami, is just too old school.
Read related: Ken Russell qualifies for November Miami mayoral race; ADLP dips one toe
And he also knows that papi is an underdog among the known potential candidates, who include current Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell, former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — who was suspended after his 2023 arrest on public corruption bribery and money laundering charges that were later dropped, but lost a re-election bid to Miguel Gabela — and former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, the one who sued the city to get the cancelled mayoral and commission races back on the ballot. Francis is all about Francis.
So, who better than another wealthy “outsider” who buys into the Miami-as-Dubai fantasy?
After all, they do seem to admire each other. Suarez even had Voccola on his Cafecito Talk podcast three years ago. You can still see it on the mayor’s X feed.
Voccola says he can’t be bought. “Ain’t nobody gonna bribe me,” he told The Miami Herald last month, bragging that there isn’t enough money in the world. That might be easy to say, however, when you’re the co-founder and CEO (he just stepped down in January) of a software company with more than $1.5 billion in revenue had have personally parked $200,000 (or so he says) in your very own political action committee, Leadership for Miami’s Future, which filed paperwork with the state division of election last month, but was first called Moving Miami Forward.
He even dared people to try. Cute. But Miami doesn’t do cute — it does complicated. It likes messy.
The would be candidate, who sounds like a Francis Suarez reboot, also told the Herald last month that he wasn’t committed yet to the race — but voters started to get text messages over the weekend that indicate a campaign is in the works.
“Kaseya Co-founder Fred Voccola wants you to know: That park in your neighborhood that hasn’t been completed — it’ll be another year. The stalled drainage project causing your streets to flood — you’ll have to wait until after the next King Tide,” a text that came over Sunday afternoon reads. “The nearly $1 billion in lost economic impact from the Miami Marine Stadium Corruption Scandal — gone.
“And they’re al part of… the city of Miami’s 15% corruption tax.”
Ladra doesn’t know what Kaseya exit he pulled that number out of. Or if someone who serves on the FIU Board of Trustees with former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, a lobbyist who funnels campaign money from billboard companies and others into the PACs of electeds, can recognize corruption when its sitting right next to him.
“It’s the invisible 15% tax residents and businesses shoulder — it’s the price of inefficiency and rampant corruption across our city,” the text from Voccola read. And it sounds like the man is underselling — just 15%? — possibly for the first time ever in his life.
Read related: City of Miami election year change won’t make November ballot, after all
Voccola co-founded Kaseya and served as its CEO for about a decade. During that time, he moved the AI cybersecurity and IT management software company from Boston to Miami in 2018, and Kaseya expanded significantly, reaching over $1.5 billion in annual recurring revenue, growing to more than 5,000 employees, and executing 18 strategic acquisitions. In January, he stepped down as CEO and moved into the role of vice chairman. He remains responsible for long-term strategy and innovation, helping to steer the company toward a potential future public offering while the board seeks a new CEO.
Fred Voccola and Francis Suarez mutually admire each other in an episode of the mayor’s Cafecito Talk podcast in 2021.
Prior to Kaseya, Voccola had leadership roles at several software and internet technology firms. He was co-founder and president of Identify Software (later acquired by BMC Software), co-founder and CEO of Trust Technology Corp. (acquired by FGI Global) and president and general manager at Yodle (acquired by Web.com). He has also been affiliated with Nolio, Intira, and Prism Solutions.
He was the keynote speaker last April at the Miami Tech Summit at — where else? — the Kaseya Center, and delivered the Miami Dade College commencement speech to the class of 2025 three months ago (he promised to learn more Spanish if he gets invited back).
But among the tried and true super voters of Miami, Voccola has no name recognition. He has no campaign infrastructure. No track record in local government. What he does have is cash. Lots of it. Enough to write his own ticket onto the ballot with less than 10 weeks to go.
And let’s not forget the receipts: hundreds of thousands in donations to Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, and the Republican National Committee. That’s not exactly outsider status, no matter how much he wants to say he’s “not really political.”
Let’s see if Voccola really goes through with it, however. It’s all fun and games until you have to have to disclose all your financial business for everyone to see. Qualifying started Friday, but doesn’t end until Sept. 20. The election is Nov. 4. But with the number of candidates signed up or threatening to run for office, there’s likely to be a runoff.
Voccola insists Miami could be the first “AI-first city in the world.” But how out of touch is that? Voters in Miami are more concerned about potholes, parks, and police overtime than about ChatGPT running city government. Will the people who can’t afford rent in this “Dubai of the Western Hemisphere” connect with a billionaire Republican tech mogul who just parachuted into Miami politics?
Maybe. Stranger things have happened here. But if Voccola really wants to “destroy” the first person who tries something shady, he might want to start with the guy who talked him into this race in the first place.

Help Ladra cover this year’s city of Miami general election by making a contribution to Political Cortadito. And thank you for supporting independent, grassroots government watchdog journalism. 

The post Fred “Who?” Voccola could be a Francis Suarez reboot for Miami mayor’s race appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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