But we can’t afford a special election in District 8?
She said yes.
Miami-Dade’s longtime budget director, Jennifer Moon — who had been elevated to the position of deputy mayor under Carlos Gimenez — has left the new mayor’s team to join the Board of Commissioners as senior advisor.
Acting Chair sprung the surprise proposition at Thursday’s commission meeting — the first since the election — and Moon said she need to think about it. The next day, she submitted her letter of resignation.
“This was not an easy decision for me to make,” Moon said in her two-page resignation letter that reads like a resumé. And she has a lot to be proud of. For 16 of the 17 years she has been with the Office of Budget Management — as it has grown to $9 billion this year — the department has earned the Government Financial Officers Association‘s Distinguished Budget award.
“As the executive directly responsible for oversight of results-oriented governing, I worked closely with elected leaders to allocate resources based not only on immediate needs but also on the county’s long-term vision and to monitor fiscal and operational progress on both a traditional balanced scorecard and a newly developed, first of its kind, resiliency scorecard.”
Moon told Ladra she hadn’t had a conversation with incoming Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz about her salary. But she will probably get paid a little more than the $279,495-a-year she makes now. And she will have staff — so she’s poaching more employees from the administration of new Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commission may weaken new strong mayor’s powers on budget
“We have had general conversations that indicate that total compensation will be similar,” Moon said. “I still have to put a budget together, that will include a salary for me and other positions I will need, and review that with the acting chair and chair elect.”
So, around $1 million? Ladra asked.
“Probably a little more than that,” Moon said. “It will be a reallocation within the budget of the BCC. They have carryover from last year available to support the office. No resources will come from the administration.”
Don’t worry, she said, it’s not all the carryover.
Apparently, the commission has an $8 million carryover (read: slush fund) in the budget. About $6 million of that goes to the individual commission districts. The other $2 million is “carryover from the various offices that report to the board.”
So, the same commission that has no money in a pandemic to pay for a special election in District 8, has money in a pandemic for a new “office of the senior advisor,” which costs almost exactly the same thing?
Actually, it looks like they have money for both. And won’t they need to underspend their budget again this year to keep her on?
“I’m hoping to be able to better coordinate activities amongst the offices that report to the whole board,” Moon said Sunday. “There are several vacant positions and I think I can help figure out how to organize so we won’t need to fill those positions and thus pay for ourselves by next year.”
But it’s not all about the money.
Read related: ‘F*&% you,’ deputy mayor blurts out at Miami-Dade’s virtual budget hearing
Moon felt typecast, pigeonholed in math. She could do so much more and in the past 10 years she had grown to do so much more.
Everyone knows she didn’t love the new mayor — there’s that famous hot mic moment when Moon basically told then Commissioner DLC how she really felt — but it looks like the feeling’s mutual. Levine Cava immediately demoted her back to budget director, with no other responsibilities as vice mayor, taking away all the stuff Moon actually liked. Stuff like planning and resiliency. Her resignation letter indicates that she really enjoyed going beyond the boring budget stuff.
This new position allows her to spread her wings a little. It’s not going to be all budget all the time. By state law, the administration is tasked with developing and presenting a proposed budget every year. Moon will just be helping review it. She can also keep tabs on accounts throughout the year to make adjustments, as needed and called upon by commission priorities.
“Honestly, the best thing I can do is help to draft legislation that can be implemented to address the board’s goals as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Moon told Ladra. “I understand how the county works and why certain things are done certain ways.
“If I know what the ultimate goal is, I can help get us there in an effective way,” she added.
“This is about me and what aI want to do at this point in my career and not about anyone else,” Moon said. “It isn’t going to take resources from anything else and I hope that it will improve the coordination between the board and the administration.
“This could be a very positive step for the community.”
And it’s not coming cheap.
Jennifer Moon could have a $1 million office on Miami-Dade commission added by Ladra on
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