It took a marathon, 12-hour session, lasting from early yesterday evening into early this morning, but Miami-Dade county commissioners have finally approved a new budget that will save over 750 jobs but cut millions from employee salaries.
The public hearings, which began yesterday at 5 p.m. and ended at 5 a.m. this morning, saw the approval of an across the board five-percent pay cut for all county workers, including Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who had proposed the cuts.
A tired Alvarez was relieved after the agreement was reached on the budget, approved at $7.4 billion.
"I'm happy that we have a balanced budget, what it means for the citizens of Miami-Dade County is that they're not gonna pay any more taxes, taxes are going to remain flat, they're actually going to see a reduction and you're going to see streamlined County government, that's what it means," Alvarez said.
Several residents attended the meeting to plead their case as to why their program should be part of the budget. While funding for many projects will be reduced, one of the biggest winners of hearing was the Meals on Wheels program, which will retain most of its funding.
While county workers will have to take the five-percent reduction, the good news was that layoff projections were reduced from 1,700 to 945.
"My priority was not to have to layoff any firefighters or police officers...that will not occur, but every department in county government is being affected by huge budget shortfall," Alvarez said.
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The shortfall is some $444 million.
