Proposed Miami-Dade County budget includes 1% property tax cut, gas tax holiday
MIAMI - Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's proposed county budget provides a 1% property tax cut and a gas tax holiday, totaling over $36 million in savings for residents.
"With this year's budget, we're creating a more future-ready Miami-Dade - building for today and investing in tomorrow," said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. "This year, as we continue offering much-needed relief to many residents, we're also building the foundation for future prosperity and growth. We have proposed a budget that is smart, compassionate, and puts people first. It builds on last year's historic tax cut while continuing to make key investments in our community's core priorities."
Here's what the office of the mayor says are key investments in the proposed budget:
Housing: We will continue making progress on the goals laid out in last year's HOMES Plan, expanding the inventory of workforce and affordable housing and providing relief to renters and homeowners. We're also growing our Office of Housing Advocacy, to connect more residents to critical services.
Transportation: We are funding key improvements to our transit system such as the Better Bus Network; completing the South Corridor, part of the SMART Plan; and making important upgrades across the MetroRail and MetroMover systems.
Public safety: Public safety remain a key priority, with funding for crime prevention programs that increase safety by recovering firearms and stolen vehicles and make all our neighborhoods safer, and funding for the third year of the Peace and Prosperity Plan which creates pathways to opportunity for high-risk youth.
Environment: Our environment is the cornerstone of our prosperity. This year's budget will include funding to protect our Bay and to tackle major climate threats, by accelerating septic to sewer conversion projects, preventing flooding by investing in stormwater infrastructure, funding the removal and disposal of sargassum, and protecting residents and visitors from extreme heat - including $500K of new funding to grow our tree canopy.
Small businesses: We are funding opportunities so all small businesses can thrive in our County, through community Development Block grants which encourage economic development; minority-owned small business grants that support local entrepreneurs; and completion of our procurement disparity study to even the playing field for small and local businesses.
Families: We're partnering with Miami-Dade College to make obtaining an associates degree FREE for more eligible families here in Miami-Dade and expanding child daycare programs to create options and prosperity for working families.
Older adults: To create more opportunity for older adults, we're strengthening programs like Meals on Wheels and providing almost 1 million meals to older and at-risk adults. We're also funding wraparound services for families and providing 70,000 one-way trips to our county's Adult Day Care Centers.
The proposed budget and more information about Mayor Levine Cava's Budget Town Halls can be found online at miamidade.gov/budget.
