Rate cut endorsed for Miami-Dade property taxes after vote. Fight remains on how much

Miami-Dade County commissioners on Tuesday endorsed rate cuts on four property taxes for the first time in 10 years, voting to set a rate ceiling that’s 1% lower than current levels.

“I am not ready to tell the residents of Miami-Dade County that they are going to pay a lot more in property taxes this year,” Commissioner Rebeca Sosa said.

Commissioners will set final rates during September budget hearings, but Tuesday’s vote effectively locks in the first reduction since 2012 for property taxes funding countywide expenses, libraries, the Fire Rescue Department and municipal services that Miami-Dade provides outside of city limits.

The 1% reductions on property taxes — technically called “millages” — matched what Mayor Daniella Levine Cava proposed in her $10 billion budget proposal, which is also up for a final vote in September. After Tuesday’s action on setting a lower ceiling, commissioners can still vote in September to lower tax rates further but can’t go higher without extraordinary measures required by state law.

Ahead of the evening vote, Levine Cava warned commissioners against going too far in locking in tax rates that are too low for the county’s needs.

“This board faces a choice,” she said. “Offer our residents the first property tax cut in a decade while also investing in targeted relief. Or you can slash the millage, leaving critical county services vulnerable to a future downturn.”

Sosa joined a failed effort by fellow commissioner Raquel Regalado to set the maximum 2023 rates on countywide and municipal-services taxes at 2% lower than current rates. “I tried,” Sosa said.

The vote to adopt Levine Cava’s recommended rate ceilings passed 9-4. Joining Regalado and Sosa in voting against the measure were Commissioners Joe Martinez and Jose “Pepe” Diaz, the board’s chairman.

With a 1% cut in the four tax rates, the average homeowner would still pay more in 2023. An analysis by the commission’s budget office said a home with an assessed value of $200,000 last year would pay $41 more in 2023 on the four property taxes.

The four tax rates are charged on properties outside of city limits. Properties inside cities are charged Miami-Dade’s countywide tax, and municipal taxes for local services.

Property values used for tax bills are up 12% across Miami-Dade, the highest in 15 years. Inflation also has doubled the potential valuation increase for homeowners under state law, from 1.4% last year to the maximum of 3% this year.

The cap, which is tied to the national inflation rate, last hit the 3% ceiling in 2012.

Levine Cava’s budget proposal includes a $20 million reserve for future budget shortfalls and $43 million set aside for a collection of new programs to subsidize landlords charging affordable rents, and mortgage and rent relief for people facing financial hardships.

Miami-Dade’s four property taxes fund county operations, generating more than $2 billion a year. Combined, they total $929 for every $100,000 of a property’s taxable value. If commissioners stick with the maximum tax level in September, the rate would be $921 per $100,000.

The approved maximum millage rates appear in tax notices mailed out to homeowners in August with estimated tax bills for 2023. Those estimates would drop if commissioners opt to set lower rates.

Technically, commissioners can still approve higher rates. But that’s an option considered off the table since state law would require halting the budget-hearing process and sending notices by first-class mail to every property owner with the new proposed rates.

Commissioners last lowered the county’s four tax rates in 2012, and they’ve been flat since 2015.

“We have to remember, people still need a good transit system. People still need us to maintain the right of way,” said Commissioner Jean Monestime. “People still need us to do the things government does. And to do that, we need money.”