Miami-Dade County Commissioners tackles the Budget: No Easy Solutions

Miami-Dade County Commissioners realize by now that there are only two solutions to balancing the budget:

1. Have all the employees contribute an additional 5% toward their
healthcare or

2. Begin the layoff process:
a. Begin with the employees who are currently in the “Drop
Program” [they already have their 30 years of civil service
and would lose nothing]

3. Every department should have to participate in the layoff
process, regardless of their statue

4. Miami-Dade County Commissioners should show by example and give
½ of their expense account monies back to the county

5. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez department should not be
exempted and should also feel the pain of reorganization to get
the county out of the red

6. Every fringe benefit given to the executives should have an
obligatory monetary cost associated with it attached to the
employee or unit to offset the cost to the county

7. Eliminate the OPP employees; the county can’t afford them

8. Start cross-training everyone to get the maximum results out of
minimum employees

9. Put the director’s and their assistant to work, rather than
allow them to get a pass because they are the executives

10. Create a financial watch group within the county and hold
monthly meetings to alert the Mayor and the Commissioners when a
particular department or unit is consistently operating in the
red, and follow through with recommendations or began the
restructuring process from the top.

There are no easy answers and regardless of the method that both Miami-Dade County Commissioners and the Mayor decide to take, the end results will still be a painful but necessary one. Good-Luck to all of you and hopefully you will come up with a solution that will allow all of you to rest peacefully at night.

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