Carlos Gimenez on UTD lawsuit re VAB: 'Not my job'

Looks like the overpaid Miami-Dade County attorneys are going to have to do some actual work.

The county filed a motion Monday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the United Teachers of Dade against Mayor Carlos “Cry Wolf” Gimenez, blaming him for shortfalls in hundreds of millions in taxes that the Miami-Dade School Board was due. UTD claims that because Gimenez failed to appropriately budget the value adjustment board so that it could collect millions in outstanding taxes, teachers have gone without a raise.

Gimenez, who claims the lawsuit is politically-motivated, basically says: “Not my yob, meng.”

And while it is true that the Florida Department of Revenue funds and approves the Value Adjustment Board budget, as well as the budget for the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s office, it could also be argued that the mayor has not done a thing to remedy the situation, which cheats the school board out of more than $250 million in past years — and an estimated $37 million more in the upcoming year.

What could he do? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe he could propose limiting continuances to just one time, or two at the most, instead of limitless. Maybe he could try to change the law that allows attorneys to file tax appeals without the property owner’s consent or even knowledge. Maybe he could ask the VAB to fund more magistrates and take care of the back log.

He is the strong mayor, after all, is he not? Doesn’t that mean he is ultimately accountable?

At the very least, Gimenez could go to Tallahassee to take a more pro-active stance on it. He’s gone to Tally to ask for money for the SkyRise Miami project and for the Miami Dolphins. He knows where Tallahassee is.

Or maybe he could address it at home. Because there is something systemically wrong with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s office when the VAB approves 47% of the appeals, compared to 7% in Broward. If the properties were properly assessed, we wouldn’t even have this problem, which is what one-time prop app candidate Alex Dominguez was yelling and screaming about for months.

Dominguez, who now hosts a weekly radio show called The Hot Seat, doesn’t fault Gimenez and also thinks the UTD lawsuit is misdirected. He faults Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia.

But it’s weird that the mayor has not made this a priority. Particularly since, by his own word, the county has lost millions of its own — $44 million last year alone, to be exact. Imagine the hundreds of millions we’ve lost in the past few years. Imagine what that money could have done for libraries. For the whittled-down gang unit at the police department. For employee morale. For cut grass along curbs and park services.

Gimenez had a chance to talk about the appeals process last month with Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, of all people, when the two met at Greenstreet in Coconut Grove. This was after the UTD filed their lawsuit. This was after he met twice with Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho — who was rumored to be eyeing his seat — about the issue. Yet Gimenez spokesman Michael Hernandez told the Miami herald that they did not talk about that. Even though C-Lo — a former state rep and former Miami-Dade Property Appraiser — could logically be the most perfect person to work on this issue with, Gimenez and Chief of Staff Alex Ferro only talked about “economic development projects… that require state assistance or financing,” Hernández was quoted as saying. “That’s his focus.”

In other words, the mayor doesn’t want to spend time talking about methods to collect revenue that we, the citizens, are owed when he can spend that time talking about funding big “game-changing” projects — like SkyRise Miami and Miami Wilds, for example — that just happen to benefit his friends and favorite fundraisers.

That’s his focus. That’s his job.

Especially when it’s so easy to just raise transit fees and cut workers to balance the budget.

But that doesn’t help public schools. School Board members will consider their own lawsuit at Wednesday’s meeting. At last week’s committee meeting, there was no support to join the UTD lawsuit. But School Board Member Raquel Regalado — who is also eyeing the mayor’s seat — said there could be more appetite for the school board’s own legal action and that it may not be limited to Gimenez.

“We have been promising the teachers for two years that we would give them a raise. I have to be able to tell them that I did everything in my power to get that money,” Regalado told me. “In some way or another, we are going to be bringing legal action. Something has to be done.”

Here is Gimenez’s statement in its entirety, on the motion to dismiss the UTD lawsuit.

“This afternoon, Miami-Dade County Attorneys filed a motion to dismiss a complaint filed by the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) against me, as Mayor. The lawsuit claims that I am responsible for revenue shortfalls in the school system due to issues in the Office of the Property Appraiser and with the Value Adjustment Board. In fact, those entities are not under my jurisdiction.

This unfortunate and frivolous lawsuit is political in nature and fails to recognize state and local laws.

Unfortunately, UTD leaders did not participate or ask to be invited to the various meetings we have had throughout the last year at both County Hall and in the Superintendent’s office. Had they participated, UTD leaders would understand that the Property Appraiser is a constitutional officer elected countywide whose budget is approved by the Florida Department of Revenue – a state agency. Furthermore, the Value Adjustment Board is a creation of the State of Florida and not under the jurisdiction of Miami-Dade County.

Miami-Dade County has also experienced losses stemming from appeals at the Value Adjustment Board. Indeed, the County lost approximately $44 million in the middle of last fiscal year which required a painful reduction in countywide services and personnel. My administration is committed to working with the Superintendent, members of the School Board, administrators and our own Board of County Commissioners to identify ways to work through our challenges together and urge that there be meaningful action taken by the Florida Legislature.

As County Mayor, I am aware that funding challenges affect both Miami-Dade County and the school system and my administration has always been committed to bringing together all parties so that we all understand the process and continue to work together.

Over the past year, I along with senior members of my administration have repeatedly met with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, members of the School Board and MDCPS administrators to thoroughly explain how the Value Adjustment Board is funded and offered to continue working together to identify ways to reduce the backlog in property tax appeals.

Through mutual collaboration, we can address funding issues and continue to build Miami-Dade County into a world-class community. Frivolous lawsuits like the one filed by the UTD are obstacles to our good work and waste taxpayer dollars that could be put to much better use.”

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Did he really say “waste taxpayer dollars” when he’s not acting on hundreds of millions of tax dollars just being siphoned away?

Well, at least it looks like the lawsuit has worked already: At least he’s paying attention to it now.

Carlos Gimenez, Miami-Dade budget, Raquel Regalado

Carlos Gimenez on UTD lawsuit re VAB: ‘Not my job’ added by Ladra on January 12, 2015
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