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Commission agrees to return part of FY25 surplus to homeowners and study rollback millage for FY27
Summary
The commission approved a plan to distribute a limited homestead "dividend" from unexpected FY25 surplus funds and directed staff to prepare a FY27 budget based on a rollback millage scenario. The measure also directs the administration to study longer-term restructurings of capital and program priorities.
Miami Beach commissioners on Dec. 17 approved a proposal to allocate part of an unexpected FY25 surplus toward a one-time homestead relief dividend and to begin planning a FY27 budget under a rollback-millage assumption.
Commissioner Alex Fernandez led the initiative, asking the city to return about $7 million in surplus funds to homesteaded property owners as a $500 per-household one-time payment while reserving additional surplus to take a beachfront building formerly used by the building department out of that agency's portfolio and study its future public use. "This is the taxpayers' money and we should be returning this to the residents," Fernandez said during debate.
The commission also directed staff to prepare a FY27 budget premised on a rollback millage (a lower property-tax rate) and tasked departments to identify efficiencies and nonessential expenses. CFO Jason Green told commissioners reserves and transportation funds could cover certain near-term costs and that the transportation fund could sustain requested trolley enhancements for about two years before permanent budget adjustments would be required.
Commissioners asked staff to return with specific proposals for using windfall revenues to support housing and permitting relief, and to identify opportunities to direct incremental resort-tax surpluses (from high-impact events) to the transportation fund. The commission voted to adopt the homestead-relief allocation and to instruct administration to develop the rollback-budget scenario and related communications.
