Miami-Dade County | Coral Gables Watch

My Fellow “Friends and Unions”

October 8, 2010 2 Comments

In time of financial crisis our politicians suddenly take interest in the “quality of life,” public security and social services. Has anyone ever seen an objective analysis of how much “public security” a city needs, at what cost and the number of actual police that are needed to produce it–not in Miami-Dade, I am sure.

In many localities, if police were better organized, had fewer “jefes”, then one could get along with fewer police–that is my hypothesis, but no one wants to raise that question . We could have fewer police (or the same number of police) with lower salaries, pensions and other benefits, and still have the same exact amount of public security. So the issue is not the “budget,” but what government employees should earn during an economic crisis and whether there are groups that are exempt from sacrifices the whole community is making.

Think of this when you read the words of Mayor Alvarez.

Mayor Alvarez came out swinging against Braman at a luncheon Thursday hosted by the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, saying his proposed budget was carefully designed to preserve public safety and social service safety nets while holding down spending. Alvarez emphasized that he only proposed the budget, which had to be approved by the commission before being implemented.

via Petition drive launched to recall five Miami-Dade Commissioners – Miami-Dade Breaking News – MiamiHerald.com.

Filed under Miami-Dade County, Pensions

The Poor Ignored

September 30, 2010 Leave a comment

Are there poor in Coral Gables–since they are not mentioned the presumption is that there are none. Politics described herenot unlike that observed in South Florida.

Much of America is in a nasty mood, and the language of compassion has more or less been abandoned. Both political parties serve their rich campaign contributors, while proclaiming that they defend the middle class. Neither party even mentions the poor, who now officially make up 15% of the population but in fact are even more numerous, when we count all those households struggling with health care, housing, jobs, and other needs.

Income inequality is at historic highs, but the rich claim that they have no responsibility to the rest of society. They refuse to come to the aid of the destitute, and defend tax cuts at every opportunity. Almost everybody complains, almost everybody aggressively defends their own narrow and short-term interests, and almost everybody abandons any pretense of looking ahead or addressing the needs of others.

via America’s Deepening Moral Crisis – Project Syndicate.

Filed under Community, Miami-Dade County

Miami-Dade Challenge to the Taxpayers

September 24, 2010 Leave a comment

Taxpayers have been challenged by the City Commission and (the strong?) Mayor of Miami-Dade County with taxes being raised in the face of community angst. The indifference of the county authorities to the financial situation of the large community, in favor of protecting employee, union and district interests (much like that of other local communities) is hard to fathom. It certainly evidences the failed structure of community representation and governance, when a few districts can punish a whole county of taxpayers.

It is very likely that a recall will be pursued by the community, and might succeed. We’ll see.

Filed under Miami-Dade County

Mayor Alvarez Answers about Taxes

September 15, 2010 Leave a comment

I am reproducing the response I got from Miami-Dade County from my note questioning higher property taxes. You will feel the emotion in the Mayor’s pronouncements about both the great sacrifices of county employees, the county’s apparent domination by its unions and the great work that county leaders have taken to fix the budget.

Dear Mr. McGaughey:

Thank you for your e-mail. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation regarding the proposed Fiscal Year 2010-2011 budget and what has been accomplished following collective bargaining negotiations with the County’s 10 bargaining units.

Unprecedented union concessions have produced $224 million in taxpayer savings. Employees saw a one-year freeze in merit pay, premium pay, flex pay, longevity bonuses and a 5 percent reduction to their pay which forever resets the base, and sets the stage for another round of collective bargaining which will begin soon. The three-year contracts that were hammered out over many months do include a 3 percent cost of living adjustment in the last three months of a three year deal.

While an increase may appear unreasonable to some considering the economic climate, our process is a complex one. Unionized employees make up about 90 percent of the County’s workforce. Collective bargaining takes place between management and union leadership, but all agreements must then be approved or disapproved by our Board of County Commissioners (BCC). In fact, one bargaining unit has still not reached an agreement with the administration, and the BCC has yet to impose terms.

Proposing measures that have no reasonable chance of moving forward is an exercise in futility. I would rather bargain in good faith, realize real savings right now and open the door to continued negotiations which could produce even more wage and benefit concessions.

As for property taxes, Miami-Dade will collect almost $38 million less in property taxes than we did last fiscal year. Direct services remain intact. Not a single park, pool, library or fire station will close, and sworn police and firefighters will not be laid off.

However, layoffs, reassignments, and departmental consolidations are all part of the proposal. About 1,200 positions are slated for elimination, 600 of which are filled. That will bring the total workforce to a little more than 27,000 positions. The last time the workforce was at this level of staffing was in the late 1990s.

Once a budget is approved, we will have closed more than $1 billion in budget gaps during the past four budget cycles. Balancing a budget is never a simple task, but we have tried hard to provide you a framework that maintains the quality of life services our residents have come to expect.

Sincerely,

Carlos Alvarez

Mayor

Miami-Dade County