Budget Message from commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez
Friends,
I just sat down with the City’s Finance and Budget Director, and I thought I would share with you what I learned about the City of Miami Beach’s budget for Fiscal Year 2017/18.
For the past several years, the City has experienced double -digit increases in property values. Fiscal Year 2017/2018 was different, however, and the City experienced only a 7.8 % increase in property values and a like increase in property taxes. (Last year it was 13%.) That gave us an increase of $14.7 million in added property tax revenues. Resort Taxes and Parking Fund increases for Fiscal Year 2017/2018 were just $772,000, for a total increase in the budget of $15.5 million.
To maintain our Current Level of Service will cost the city an additional $12.3 million this year. That leaves us with a surplus of $3,264,000, and a total combined millage rate of 5.8888, which is the same millage rate as last year.
| FY 16/17 Adopted |
FYI 17/18 Proposed |
$ Variance | % Variance | |
| Gen. Fund Rev. | 317,252,000 | 332,775,000 | 15,523,000 | 4.9% |
| Gen. Fund Exp. | 317,252,000 | 329,511,000 | 12,259,000 | 3.9% |
| Surplus/(Deficit) | 3,264,000 | 3,264,000 |
Resort Taxes were a different story. We projected $59.7 million dollars for the year, and we only took in $56.1 million, a difference of $3.6 million The downturn in resort tax income was due to a closed convention center, Zika, a hurricane threat, and, some say, a stronger dollar worldwide.
While we were able to balance the budget this year and maintain the current levels of service, we must be careful moving forward to not increase expenses, because if we do, the City may have to increase property taxes moving forward.
I am committed to the City of Miami Beach’s fiscal health, and for those of you who are interested, I urge you to attend our budget hearings at the September 13th and September 15th commission meetings.
You can find a detailed breakdown of the Miami Beach budget here. (Editor’s note: The city has not put up the budget information for 2017 / 2018 yet but please keep this link so that you can refer to it as soon as it has been posted. if you are interested to see last year’s budget that is available at this link.)
You Friend and Neighbor,
Kristen Rosen Gonzalez
