Ex-city clerk taking on incumbent North Miami mayor. There’s no love lost between them.

Michael Etienne, the elected city clerk in North Miami from 2011 to 2019, is looking to dethrone Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime in a contentious May 11 election that has centered around the city’s financial problems.

Etienne, an attorney who was just 27 years old when he first won the clerk’s seat, has become one of North Miami’s most vocal critics, blasting city officials for what he says is irresponsible spending — citing, as one example, a Super Bowl event hosted by rap icon Luther Campbell last year that went over budget.

It’s “absolutely imperative,” Etienne said in an interview, that North Miami resolve its budget deficit, which sat at around $14.7 million in late 2019, according to a report released by the city’s finance department last year. The report warned of a potential “state of financial emergency” if the city failed to reduce that gap.

“We don’t want to be the next Opa-locka,” said Etienne, 37, referring to North Miami’s neighbor to the northwest that has been under state financial oversight since 2016. “We need to make sure we resolve this deficit issue.”

Bien-Aime, a city councilman since 2013 who was first elected mayor in 2019, says the city is taking the necessary steps to reduce its deficit under the guidance of Theresa Therilus, who was hired as the new city manager last summer after the departure of Larry Spring. Bien-Aime told the Miami Herald the deficit is down 35%, though a financial report revealing the latest figures has not yet been released.

Bien-Aime, a 55-year-old Realtor and tax preparer, also criticized Etienne’s time as city clerk, saying the former clerk left his office in shambles — a claim Etienne denies.

“Michael Etienne is the last person to tell the city they’ve been doing bad practices,” Bien-Aime said.

North Miami, a city of about 63,000, has a strong-manager form of government, meaning the manager runs the city’s day-to-day operations while the mayor and council set policy and approve the budget. There are about 34,000 voters in the city, half of them Black, according to the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections.

The mayor, whose salary is set by the city commission, earns an approximately $72,000 annual salary plus other perks, including a $15,000 expense account.

The mayor praised the city’s approach during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included furloughs for most employees due to anticipated revenue drops. He touted the city’s efforts to help residents and businesses with rent and mortgage payments, both through federal relief funds and through the budget of North Miami’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which Bien-Aime chairs.

“Since March 2020 when we declared a state of emergency, all we’ve been doing is addressing the needs of the residents,” he said.

Bien-Aime said he’s also proud of the city’s affordable housing efforts, including the recent approval of several developments that will feature affordable units. This week, the CRA approved a $5.8 million grant toward a 175-unit, mixed-use senior housing complex expected to break ground this summer.

“Bringing high-quality, affordable housing to North Miami continues to be a priority,” Bien-Aime said in a statement.

But Etienne, who lost a 2019 council race to Mary Estime-Irvin and decided against a run for Florida House District 107 last year, said the city isn’t thinking big enough. In some cases, he said, developers have built projects that don’t “respect the potential prestige of North Miami” — pointing to the master-planned Biscayne Landing development, which he described as a “cheap project” that isn’t aesthetically pleasing. The development was approved before Bien-Aime was in office and was the subject of intense critique.

Etienne said he would welcome developers who propose projects more like Sole Mia, a flashy multibillion-dollar effort located at the same former landfill site as Biscayne Landing.

“They don’t see us as a broke-down, workforce city,” Etienne said, adding that he believes North Miami should compete for developments with wealthier cities like Aventura and Key Biscayne. “I’m going to welcome that mindset.”

To address concerns about gentrification and residents being pushed out — in a city where one in five residents lives below the poverty line — Etienne said North Miami should focus more on expanding its rental assistance efforts than it does on adding a limited number of affordable housing units.

“We can spread the wealth and help more people,” he said. “We need to modernize our system.”

In interviews with the Herald, Etienne and Bien-Aime both also brought up their opponent’s scandals while in office.

Bien-Aime referred to an ethics investigation while Etienne was city clerk, which resulted in Etienne pleading no contest to allegations that he improperly used taxpayer money to take a trip to Mount Rushmore in 2016 instead of traveling directly to a work conference. Etienne later reimbursed the city for the cost of a rental car.

“In eight years [as clerk], I had one ethics investigation and I reimbursed the city for about $2,000 voluntarily,” Etienne said. “I’ll own up to using a city-paid rental car for a side trip to Mount Rushmore.”

Etienne brought up a past allegation of sexual assault against Bien-Aime, in which a city administrator claimed that Bien-Aime harassed her for months and “held her prisoner” in a car while trying to have sex with her. Bien-Aime has strenuously denied the allegations, calling them “fabricated and untrue.” The case was settled out of court last year.

The opponents also traded barbs over Etienne’s handling of the city clerk’s department. Bien-Aime suggested that Etienne “destroyed” the department, including by leaving its budget depleted when he left in mid-2019.

Etienne, however, said he left the office with a “massive” budget, and that the city took surplus funds out of the department and transferred it to other areas after he left.

“What he said is blatantly false,” Etienne said.

Bien-Aime’s reelection campaign has raised almost $120,000 from a variety of residents, businesses and developers, according to campaign finance reports. Etienne has taken in $53,000, almost entirely from loans he has made to his own campaign.