Coral Gables leaders play game of ‘chicken’ with city budget, tax rate

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The city of Coral Gables commission is playing chicken with the budget. At stake: Millions of taxpayer dollars.

A standoff became clear during the second budget workshop Wednesday and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end well — with a potential $10 million cut in services (and taxes) if commissioners can’t make up their minds by Aug. 4.

All because Mayor Vince Lago wants to flex and grandstand about a 2% tax rate cut that means less than $100 a year for 13,033 property owners out of 19,113 taxable folios, according to the city’s own breakdown. Lago admits most savings will be small, but it’s better than nothing, he says. Right?

Well, not if it means that the only people really benefitting from the tax cut are those who own multi-million homes and commercial buildings. Not if it means cutting services. Not if it means losing the five new police officers and five new firefighters that the city was poised to hire this year, which both the police chief and fire chief said could happen under Lago’s preferred scenario.

The finance director, the budget director, the budget advisory board, the police chief, the fire chief — they all urged the commission to stay with the current millage or tax rate (5.559 cents per thousand dollars of taxable property value), which has been the same since 2016 while operating costs have gone up by 80%, the budget director said. The commission can always lower the rate at the first public hearing in September if they really want to. The city can’t make it higher once it is set by Aug. 4.

But nooooooo, Lago said he wasn’t budging.

“My decision is not going to change,” he said early on. Then, later, when the clerk told him, no, almost begged him to pass the current tax rate because, and he repeated it, they can always bring it down at the first public hearing, and “it allows staff eight weeks instead of three weeks” to find $2.6 million in savings or cuts, Lago doubled down.

“I’m not willing to move from my position. I’m not going to be attacked.”

Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago attacks colleagues, manager in citywide email

But it wasn’t his “enemy” commissioners who were practically begging him to put politics aside. It was staff.

“I will just ask, one more time,” said a visibly frustrated Budget Director Paula Rodriguez, adding that it “takes several months” to put the budget together. “What I would suggest is you give our staff more time to really go through it and do a thoughtful analysis. It would allow some things that are going to play out to play out,” she said.

“Hopefully it’s additional money from the state,” Rodriguez said.

“Read the room,” Lago said. “You don’t have the votes.”

Let that sink in. Lago is telling an employee that she doesn’t have the votes to do something that she has professionally recommended. He’s fighting with everyone. Except Anderson. Because he knows how she’s going to vote.

It’s ironic because the one who couldn’t read the room was Lago. Even the most loyal city hall employees were scratching their heads at his stubborn and reckless decision. Rodriguez told them that if there is no decision made by Aug. 4, the county would impose the rollback rate on the city — which would be a loss of $10 million to the $283.5 million city budget.

The workshop meeting started rough, with Lago giggling as Commissioner Ariel Fernandez spoke. “Did I say something funny,” he asked the mayor. “I’m waiting for you to finish,” Lago shot back.

A bad sign.

Lago used the opportunity to again hit the three opposing commissioners with his distaste for the raises they gave themselves last year. “I’ve been trying for years to lower the millage rate,” he said. “Instead, what we did was raise salaries by 102%.”

Read related: Coral Gables Internal Affairs check out mayor’s ‘assault’ incident at City Hall

He then turned to City Manager Amos Rojas — who he almost punched out last week, according to all accounts and an investigation into possible “assault” — and asked him a question. Ladra can’t even remember what it was because the mayor then gave Rojas no time to answer and Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who has been letting his inner soccer coach out more and more, had already had enough.

And this was early.

“Let him answer, please! Enough already with the politics,” Menendez practically yelled. Fernandez called for a 10-minute recess and stormed off. Lago and Anderson ended up on the dais alone with City Attorney Christina Suarez.

When the meeting resumed, it didn’t get better.

“I’m looking for facts, not political theater,” Lago said, repeating one of his new, favorite terms, and adding that other municipalities were also cutting the tax rate.

“You’re telling me, someone who runs a business, that we can’t find 1% in our operating budget? I know we can,” he said, offering $5,000 from his office fund, like the $2.6 million could be cut $5K at a time.

In three weeks.

Menendez stressed that it would be a recurring cut. Not a one-time thing. Whatever would be cut from the 2024-2025 budget would have to stay cut in the budgets that come after.

Fernandez made the same argument as he made last year — that the tax cut would only benefit the very rich property owners, not the abuelos in North Gables, adding that 470 folios would get less than $20.

He also said that the city didn’t have all the facts yet. There could be more money coming in from the state. There could be less money due to the Teamsters negotiations. “We don’t have all the facts.”

Anderson did the heavy lifting for Lago Wednesday. One of the crazy things she said was that new potential homebuyers would be tentative to buy in the City Beautiful because of the high taxes. But Ladra finds it hard to believe that anyone looking for a home in Coral Gables would cross it off over $153, which is what the city’s number crunches said would cost the average homesteaded property with a 2% decrease.

Someone who owns a home estimated in the median range, or about $550,000, would save an estimated $89.

Anderson also kept saying that there was a mandate from state legislators to cut local taxes. “The message is clear from Tallahassee that we need to lower our millage rate,” Anderson said, as if her constituents were the state representatives.

At one point, the vice mayor even said that the city could always raise taxes next year or the year after that. Of course, that would be after her re-election attempt this April. Nobody has yet challenged her, but somebody will. Somebody should. Fernandez shut her down. “That’s not going to happen,” he said.

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Both Lago and Anderson kept saying that everybody needed to roll up their sleeves.

In three weeks.

In the end, there was a 3-2 split on the tax rate cut, which had to be approved by a 4/5th super majority vote. So they decided to come back in three weeks, at the end of July, to try again. But Lago and Anderson would need two of the other three commissioners to compromise.

So, they may play chicken again.

Lago made it clear that he isn’t going to change his mind. No matter what the employees, who know what they’re talking about, say. It’s interesting that the mayor wants to set the tax rate in stone before anybody in the public has had a chance to speak.

What if they don’t want to save $153 if it means cutting services — or police officers? What would have been the damage if they had left the decision to the first public hearing Sept. 12?

Lago seems like he’s in a hurry to do this. Is it part of his legacy, especially now that the proposed mobility hub has been effectively sidelined (more on that later)? Or is it sabotage?

Facing what could be an investigation into his business dealings with developer Rishi Kapoor, and what could be a difficult re-election in April if practically anyone steps up to the plate this time — and everyone is assuming that someone will — Lago seems to want to burn the city to the ground and leave it a mess for Fernandez and whoever comes in behind him.

After Ladra called and texted the mayor, he sent the following text back: “Good evening, please refrain from contacting me on my personal cell phone. If you require to contact me, please use my city of Coral Gables phone.” He added the phone number, which Ladra already had (786-397-3957).

But he didn’t answer a call and text sent to that phone, either.

The Coral Gables budget workshop was almost eight hours long. There was a lot said and a lot of ‘political theater,’ to use an overused phrase. Political Cortadito will bring it to you in pieces. This is the first in a series of posts covering the Coral Gables budget.

  Ariel Fernandez, budget cuts, Coral Gables politics, Kirk Menendez, Vince Lago