Miami must cut $25 million after contentious budget vote exposes rifts on commission

Miami’s city government needs to cut $25 million from its billion-dollar budget, the latest result of a commission grappling with the fallout of a corruption scandal and a shift of power following the November election.

The city faced the potential of losing $63 million in tax revenue after state regulators told the city its September vote on the property tax rate was invalid after former commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla was removed from office amid corruption charges.

During a Monday night special meeting, it quickly became clear that the commission with two new members would not simply pass the same tax rate. In their first meeting, commissioners Miguel Angel Gabela and Damian Pardo pushed the commission to reduce the tax rate and swallow a $25 million cut to a city account with miscellaneous expenses — a temporary measure until administrators can produce a line-by-line plan to reduce spending in January.

Meanwhile, the three hours of stalemate illustrated a new rift on the commission and a power struggle between political upstarts Pardo and Gabela and the more veteran commissioners Manolo Reyes and Joe Carollo. In the middle literally and figuratively, Commission Chairwoman Christine King had to manage the men around her who would interrupt each other and, at time, raise their voices.

She presided over several failed votes that would have seen reductions of as little as $865,000 or as much as $49 million.

“We have to consider the residents of the city of Miami,” King said during one of several times she was trying to find consensus. “Not our personalities. Not what we’re thinking. We have to think about residents of the City of Miami.”

On one side, Gabela proposed cutting the tax rate to reduce spending by $25 million, a proposal Pardo backed. Gabela briefly criticized the city spending millions on Carollo’s legal defense, as well as expenses on a pending lawsuit that challenges Gabela’s eligibility to hold the office he just won. Gabela also vaguely criticized undefined spending on the police security detailed by Mayor Francis Suarez, who typically travels with at least two police officers guarding him.

Heat on city attorney

Gabela and Pardo did not offer any specific line items, steering the responsibility to city staff. Gabela did have one clear objective: to oust City Attorney Victoria Méndez.

“Madame city attorney, respectfully, I have asked for your resignation because every time something happens in the city of Miami, there’s a hurricane, and you seemed to be caught right smack in the middle of that hurricane,” Gabela said.

Méndez did not resign. Gabela is sponsoring a resolution on Thursday’s commission agenda to fire Méndez.

Read more: Records show another six-figure code fine reduced for Miami city attorney’s husband

Monday’s debate swiftly moved to where to set the tax rate, sparking a tug-of-war that saw Gabela and Pardo win, even though the city is now set to make cuts that administrators say could impact city services, labor negotiations and employees’ pay.

In a rare commission meeting appearance, Suarez took his seat on the dais to make what seemed like a stump speech from his failed presidential campaign — he touted a record surplus in city coffers, along with historically low property tax and homicide rates.

At the end of his extended commentary, he said the city would have to furlough employees to balance the budget. Later, City Manager Art Noriega said that was not necessarily the case.

“It’s an option,” Noriega said. “Furloughs would be a last resort.”

Reyes tried for compromise

Reyes tried several times to compromise by proposing that commissioners pass a budget with no reductions or smaller cuts and return to the topic in the new year to cut $30 million. After several failed votes, Reyes joined King to back Gabela’s proposal, leaving Carollo the lone no vote.

Carollo, who at times seemed amused by the debate, said the city should go bigger and cut more.

“If we’re going to have a bonfire, let’s have a real bonfire,” he said.

In a statement following the meeting, Gabela thanked the commissioners who voted with him and repeated his desire to drive out Méndez.

“It’s very simple. We are here tonight because of the incompetence of our city attorney,” he said. “Now that we are here I am going to do the best by my residents, fight for them by reducing their tax burden.”

Earlier, Méndez had pushed back, saying the late September vote was a “business decision.” The discussion revealed commissioners were not aware when they voted in late September that they had the option to take a four-fifths vote and accept a cut of $865,000.

Noriega defended his administration’s position, arguing that the state of Florida was being “unfair” to the city, and that Miami’s government should sue the state over its interpretation of the law.

He also blasted Florida Department of Revenue officials for waiting months to inform the city that their September budget vote did not comply with state law.

“That letter should’ve come a week after, not two months later,” he said.