Miami-Dade

State of the County

County mayor bullish on global agreement

By Cynthia Archbold

On Wednesday, the day after auto magnate Norman Braman filed his second and third lawsuits to stop the $3 billion city-county global agreement for downtown Miami, county Mayor Carlos Alvarez praised the deal in his 2008 state of the county address.

“Much has been said about the ‘global agreement,’” Alvarez said. “I support it because it creates local jobs — good-paying jobs at a time when our community really needs them. Most importantly, I support the agreement because each project — taken on its own merits — makes sense.”

Although he warned of budget cuts ahead, he pushed for the mega-deal.

“Let’s start with the port tunnel,” he said. “I’ll put it bluntly. We’re losing cargo business. Cargo makes up 50 percent of what we do at the seaport. The bottom line is cargo companies can’t make money if they can’t move merchandise.”

Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise lines publicly opposed the $1 billion tunnel, which they believe would worsen truck-traffic backups in long security lines.

But, Alvarez said, “The state came to us with $650 million to build, operate and maintain the tunnel. It’s a gift we’d be foolish to give back.”

As for the controversial half-billion-dollar Marlins Stadium plan, Alvarez said, “If both the City and County commissions sign off tomorrow, this public-private partnership is one we can all put in the ‘win’ column.”

Under the agreement, two-thirds of the cost of the stadium would be paid by taxpayers — with the Marlins paying one-third.

Regarding plans to build the $545 million Museum Park, Alvarez said, “The skeptics have been silenced when it comes to our cultural facilities. Forty million dollars in grants from the Knight Foundation is making our museums and cultural programs whole.”

Yet, the $40 million vote of confidence from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will not help pay for building the $550 million Museum Park, which depends on county Government Obligation Bond dollars as well as private donations, most yet to be raised.  

The mayor thanked Adrienne Arsht for her $30 million donation to the downtown performing arts center, which will help turn around the facility’s first-year $4.1 million operating budget deficit resulting from budgeting errors and low ticket sales.

During his first year as strong mayor, Alvarez said he trimmed the budget by $220 million, eliminated 1,100 positions and “put merit increases for executives on hold.” He also plans on “making it harder to move the Urban Development Boundary,” cleaning up the mismanagement in the Miami-Dade Housing Agency and paying commissioners “a full-time salary for a full-time job.”

The mayor acknowledged the pain of belt-tightening over the year — plans to build libraries and fire stations have been put on hold, and community-based organizations saw more than $12 million in reductions. And there will probably be more cuts ahead. “We must also realize we are entering uncertain economic times. Difficult decisions lie ahead. We know our next budget must be $100 million leaner.”

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