P.S. Miami-Dade Holds the Line on Taxes! And now Coral Gables?

The Miami-Dade County Commissions have approved an austerity budget with a flat tax, significant salary and reductions of positions.

At 5:01 a.m., exactly 12 hours after the meeting began Thursday evening, county commissioners approved a $7.4 billion budget.

The winners: elderly residents who get county subsidized meals and community-based service organizations paid for through the commissioners’ discretionary funds. Both saw most of their county funding restored.

The losers: county employees who stood to lose $106 million in salary cuts under the mayor’s original budget and now stand to sacrifice another $68 million in assorted benefits.

But the number of proposed layoffs has been reduced from 1,700 to 945.

Is there a lesson for Coral Gables? Based on the well known views of Commissioners and the City Manager, the answer seems to be No.