Miami Beach officials are proposing a nearly $1 billion budget for 2025 that would increase spending on law enforcement, street cleaning and other city priorities while keeping the tax rate flat as property values continue to grow.
The $952 million plan, unveiled Aug. 30 by recently hired City Manager Eric Carpenter , capitalizes on a strong real estate market after a third straight year in which property values rose citywide by at least 9%.
Spending under the proposal, an increase from the $942 million budgeted for the last fiscal year, reflects the priorities of elected officials who have put a premium on public safety and quality-of-life improvements.
The plan, Carpenter wrote in a budget message , “includes numerous enhancements that directly respond to resident feedback and priorities set forth by the Mayor and City Commission that emphasize public safety, homelessness, and cleanliness.”
The hikes are found within the city’s operating budget, which is slated to jump from $829 million to $878 million. Meanwhile, a budget for capital improvements — infrastructure projects like park upgrades and roof replacements — would drop from $114 million to $74 million.
The city must spend $1.2 billion over the next five years to fight sea-level rise and address other infrastructure needs, according to a five-year plan rolled out alongside the annual budget. That’s in addition to $1.3 billion appropriated for ongoing projects such as road-raising on West Avenue and roadway repairs along 41st Street.
Asked about the proposed capital decrease, Miami Beach’s chief financial officer, Jason Greene, told the Herald the city also appropriated $84 million earlier this year for water and sewer projects and $20 million for infrastructure projects approved as part of a 2018 general obligation bond referendum.
The City Commission will hold an initial public hearing on the budget on Monday, Sept. 16. A final hearing is set for Wednesday, Sept. 25.
Among the proposed spending increases:
$3.9 million in total for the mayor and commission, up from $2.9 million in the prior year. The increase is due in part to six new full-time positions, including several in Mayor Steven Meiner’s office, such as a “public safety enforcement advisor.”
$1.9 million to continue a “high visibility” police overtime detail aimed at protecting Jewish residents and institutions , which began after the Hamas attacks on Israel last October. About $2 million had been spent on the effort as of July, according to city officials.
$759,000 for six sanitation workers focused on pressure cleaning streets and sidewalks.
$394,000 in one-time funding and $224,000 in recurring funding for education initiatives at seven private and charter schools in the city, including $85,000 for a coordinator to oversee the programs.
$344,000 for two detention officers, on top of eight currently employed, to transport people to jail.
$325,000 for four positions, on top of two currently, in the police department’s Real Time Intelligence Center .
$325,000 for three “area managers” to oversee the city’s three distinct sections: South Beach, Mid-Beach and North Beach.
$306,000 to implement a residential parking pilot program in North Beach.
$200,000 to reimburse Miami-Dade County for the salaries of two staffers in the county’s crime lab to test marijuana and other drugs seized by Miami Beach police.
$121,000 for a full-time bicycle-pedestrian coordinator to help the city “deliver key pending bicycle-pedestrian projects and initiatives that are stalled due to staff shortages.”
$115,000 for a third municipal prosecutor on a team that prosecutes city ordinance violations.
$105,000 for each of the city’s seven elected officials ($15,000 apiece) to attend conferences and other events. The funding was approved at a July commission meeting.
Carpenter is calling for a flat tax rate following a bump in the rate last year to pay for the city’s general obligation bonds, including $439 million approved by voters for capital projects in 2018 and $159 million approved in 2022 for arts and culture projects.
If the millage rate remains flat, the property tax bill for the median homesteaded property in the city (valued at $266,000) would be $1,682, an increase of $49, according to the city.
For a homesteaded property valued at the city average ($756,000), the tax increase would be $138.
Yearly increases in assessed value of properties with homestead exemptions are capped at 3% under Florida law.
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