The mayor of Miami-Dade County says she is trying to have a balanced approach after announcing her proposed county budget Monday.
The proposal cited lower property taxes but also meets the needs in other areas that require funding, including key investments in housing and transportation.
“This is a smart, compassionate and future-ready budget,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
The mayor is pitching a 1% cut in the county property tax rate as part of the proposed budget.
“The proposed 1% property tax cut will provide immediate relief to residents, while also ensuring our county can continue to provide essential services,” she said.
If county commissioners agree, this would be the second annual rate cut.
But according to real estate broker and attorney Jonathan Alfonso, most Miami Dade residents would still see higher tax bills due to soaring property values.
“The reality is that a 1% reduction is only with regards to the county budget, which is 25% of the total amount that goes into the property taxes that a homeowner pays,” Alfonso said.
“Let’s take for example a homeowner whose property has a market value according to the property appraiser of 700,000 and it is assessed at $450,000 because in Florida we have this program called ‘Save our Homes’ which caps the amount a property owner’s taxes can go up every year at 3%.”
“So what this means is even though the property appraiser says it is worth $700 it is taxed at $450,” according to Alfonso. “For a homeowner in that scenario, their property tax would still go up $198.”
Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia urges the mayor and commissioners to consider a 3% reduction.
“I appreciate the property appraiser in his role of appraising property, but he only looks at one side of the ledger,” said Commissioner Oliver Gilbert. “He doesn’t know what the union requirements are for our contracts, he doesn’t know the needs of any of the departments, he doesn’t know that we have a police academy. We have to address compensation in those areas.”
Not all commissioners agree with the proposed budget. Commissioner Regalado feels the property tax cut should be more than 1%.
Commissioners will meet tomorrow to begin discussing.
