Policy Council - Jul 13, 2026

Presentation, but first if the clerk can call the roll. Good morning, Commissioner Quinn Higgins, Commissioner Gonzalez, Commissioner Lopez, Vice Chairman Gilbert, Chairman Rodriguez. I am present. Four members present, we have a quorum. All right, first we're going to start with our presentation and then we'll come back and do the pledge and everything else. That's my only complaint about that. You sit at the bar or you're great? Yeah. You sit at the table. It's like being in Europe or some shit. I know you're going to. That's my only complaint about that. That's my only complaint about that. And they don't bring water. Good morning. Good to see you. Is your hair different? No, I just love you right there. Is it normally curly? It is. That's right. It looks good. It looks great. Good morning. Morning, good morning. How are you? Good to see you. Thank you. Marsha, you're on fire. I need a fire. You should have heard what you just told us. All right. Good morning, guys. Please take your seats so that we can get started with today's meeting and presentation. All right. Please take your seats. If the man of honor can make his way down today, Commissioner, welcome. Madam Mayor, welcome, welcome, welcome. All right. So first and foremost, of course, good morning, everybody. This is a packed house. I don't know if it's because of the love for former chairman Oliver Gilbert, Oliver G. Gilbert III, or is it because we have some long items on the agenda? Which one is it? We know it's both. We have the YEP students here. So welcome to our chamber. And they're going to join us probably in a little while to guide us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So that would be nice. Today's the first day for the YEP students. So very important day. So they're here for your special day, my friend. Very special occasion today as we begin a new tradition of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners. One that recognizes and preserves the legacy of those who have served as chair of this board. The chairman's portrait collection will serve as a lasting tribute to the leadership, dedication, and contributions of the individuals who have played a vital role in shaping the direction and progress of our county during their tenure as chair of the board. The frames will be displayed inside this commission chambers, creating a permanent visual record of the leaders who have guided our county's legislative body and helped shape the future of Miami-Dade County. And today's inaugural ceremony honors my friend, our colleague, former chairman Oliver G. Gilbert III, whose service reflected a commitment to progress, collaboration, and strengthening our entire community, not just the district that he represented or still represents. Throughout his tenure, Chairman Gilbert demonstrated thoughtful leadership and a dedication to bringing people together while ensuring the needs of Miami-Dade County residents remained at the forefront. And this portrait represents more than a moment in time. It represents a legacy of public service, leadership, and commitment to our community. And by establishing this new tradition, we are creating a lasting reminder right here in our community chambers of the individuals who have helped shape Miami-Dade County and the impact they have made through their service. This is a highly respected tradition that preserves the history of our institution and ensures that the names and contributions of those, the names and contributions of those who have led this board remain a visible part of our county's story for generations to come. On behalf of Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners, myself as your chair, it is my honor to recognize former chairman, former chairman Oliver G. Gilbert III, and celebrate his distinguished service and contributions to our county. Thank you, Chairman Gilbert, for your leadership, dedication, and for being part of this historic new tradition. And with that, I will ask Gilbert on one side and the mayor, if you want to get on this side. We look forward to continuing this great tradition as we move forward. But mayor, if you can help us unveil, and then you will say some words after, and then former chairman can say some words as well. But we want to go ahead and reveal the portrait so everyone can enjoy it while you all speak. So, all right, all right, yeah, I think you should do a countdown for sure. I was going to do it, but go ahead, go ahead, three, two, one, all right, it had to be orange, it had to be orange, all right, I'm excited. And that will be hung up here in the chamber in one of the back walls. But Madam Mayor, if you would like to say a few words, and then, of course, any colleague that would like to speak as well, and then, of course, end it with Chairman Gilbert. Thank you, thank you, Mr. Chair, and I have had the pleasure to work alongside this gentleman for many years, and it really has been a pride and joy. And to speak briefly about his special role in our county's history, let me say, he is a tireless and relentless advocate for justice and opportunity. He is famous for his fiery rhetoric and his incredible strategy and wit. You like that? Okay, that's good, because he's a real critic of not only my words, but of my attire. How did I do today? Okay, very good. So with that, let me say, no portrait could do this gentleman justice. But I think they captured you very well in your happier moments, and the color scheme is perfectly on theme. So I'm really grateful that we'll have this opportunity to look at you on the wall every day, every day, every day, and well beyond your service in these chambers. So congratulations. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Gilbert, former Chairman Gilbert, it is an honor to have you as a friend and a colleague. You are certainly a trailblazer in your community, in our community, so it is fitting that we kick off this beautiful tradition with you. I have learned so much from you, my friend, and I thank you for everything you've done for our community. It is such a fitting tribute to honor you in this way. So congratulations. We will continue to celebrate with you, and of course, we'll miss you, but we will support you, and we love you. Thank you, Chair. Can we have quiet in the back? Those talking by the front doors, can we go outside, please? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman, for creating this tradition. If you visited the chambers in Tallahassee, you know that their chambers are lined with portraits of all of the former speakers, and so I'm grateful that we're now starting that tradition here in Miami-Dee County, and it's fitting that we're starting with Oliver Gilbert III, someone who can definitely be very tough and very stern in making sure that he advocates for his community as best he can and is truly effective in doing exactly that, but if you know Oliver, you know that inside he is as warm and as kind as you can ever ask a man to be. And so I am grateful to have the honor of calling him my friend. And I know there have been some remarks already by my colleagues referring to Past Tense, the service that he provided, and we will miss you. I'm not ready for all of that talk yet. We all know what's happening with our dear friend, Commissioner Gilbert. I am not ready to have the conversation. I know he's going to be with us until January, and so I'll save those remarks. We are grateful for your service. I'm grateful for this portrait. It's beautiful. I just, I wonder where it's going to be placed. I don't know that we should put it dead center. I think maybe like off to the corner in the, I'm kidding. I'm obviously kidding. Congratulations. Congratulations. Commissioner Gilbert, you're like more of a friend than you've ever been a colleague. From the very get-go of my career, you have been there for me, and I have been so grateful. I have learned more about the county in the short eight months I've been sitting next to you, and that has been really a privilege. I like my colleague over here. I'm not ready to say goodbye. So what I'm really ready to say is how wonderful this tradition is. I've just come, obviously, as you know, from the Florida House and grew up in that tradition, and it was always so inspiring to look around the room at all of the leaders who had made a difference. And so I know what a difference you've made because I've watched it myself, first as a member of the House and now as your colleague here. So I cannot imagine a better way to kick off an incredible tradition that not only inspires colleagues but inspires the public to see who has made that sacrifice to lead us. So thank you again for being my friend, for being my colleague, for being my seatmate. I look forward to many more days together. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman. I want to thank the Chairman for putting forward this initiative. I feel this is awesome, especially for me. Every time I look at this, I mean, I'm thinking 1999 H to the Izzo right now. So the fact that we get to look up and think about Oliver and think about Jay-Z at the same time is going to be incredible. But I agree with Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. I mean, I'm not ready to have the conversation of you leaving us, brother. When I was in law school, I had a college professor that just rode me, man. Like, this guy would just knock me for everything, right? And I would come prepared to class, and I would come out and litigate the best I could, and he would call everything I did out. And I was so upset at first. But after I graduated, I feel I became a great litigator. And it was because he rode me so hard and because he did not accept anything but excellence. And, Oliver, you've been a mentor. You've been a friend. And you rode me really hard, but you taught me so much, man. And I will always be grateful to you. I'm the one that was placing the bets on Kashi, by the way, on hair or no hair. But, yeah, so whoever we went, by the way, there's fizz on top, okay? So that's the way it goes. I've known Oliver a long time, first as a councilman, and then we got to serve as mayors together and now on the commission. And, actually, I had the honor of having him introduce me when I kicked off my commission campaign. And I asked him to be the person that introduced me because of many of the things that have been said before that exemplify exactly what his service has meant. He, like I think both of us are considered probably too cantankerous individuals. But that's okay because you don't go into politics if you're not going to say what you think. If not, you're just along for the ride. Like I said, signifies most people. But that's okay. So a lot of times he and I, as we were the other day, we had a hearing here, and I remembered exactly why, in fact, I chose that he introduce me to run for the county commission. Because I always felt that he expressed what he thought in a smart, eloquent, intelligent way without ever necessarily just placating the – and it doesn't matter, by the way. One of the things I respect about him, he doesn't need to win. He needs to say what he thinks is right, which is the most important thing, I believe, in any elected official. And now he's probably going on to bigger and better things. So I hope that those of you that he's been able to mentor understand that when you walk by this portrait, and despite what Gonzalez says, he looks really good in the picture. He's not Jay-Z. Looks better than Jay-Z. So he should be as lucky as Jay-Z, but that's another story we can talk about. But the bottom line is when you walk by that portrait, remember that his strength of conviction, strength of conviction, when he thought – and we don't agree all the time. But when he thinks that he believes in something, he's eloquent. He has a good argument for it. And his strength of conviction is what I hope the rest of our colleagues here emulate. Not go along to get along, but have strength of conviction. So, Oliver, we're going to miss you, and hopefully we'll go see you. I'm pretty sure we will. And just make sure I'm not on the Democratic side of the aisle. Remember, I'm a Republican. Be nice to me. Don't hold it against me. All right, but hopefully you're going to bigger, bigger things, and he'll be a great advocate for this community at the national level. And we need that. And congratulations, my friend. Thank you. Thank you. All right, all right. Good morning, everyone. Bonjour. Bonjour. Mr. Chair. Mm-hmm. All right. Thank you for bringing this tradition. Thank you for the best. Yes, I think it's really a nice tradition to start, and then a nicer tradition to start with my dear friend, Oliver Gilbert. I've known you for many, many, many years, and when I think about you, Commissioner, this quote comes to mind. Leadership is not about titles. It's not about positions. It's about the impact you make in people's lives. And then those of you who, like me, have known Oliver, or Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, for a long time, we know, you know, that he has made an impact. Whether as council member of the city of Miami Gardens, as mayor of the city of Miami Gardens, he's, my dear friends, commissioners, esteemed guests, he's brought Miami Gardens. He's turned it into a destination, a global destination. This is not a small feat. He does it because he's strong. He has a vision. And then he's not shy of expressing this vision and of sharing this vision and in putting people together who support it. That's how he's been so successful. So, Commissioner Gilbert, my cher ami, and I'm happy to see our deputy state representative, Aralas Aristide, in the office. We are also good friends of yours, good friends of yours. My wish to you is that you bring that vision as you seek higher office. You bring it with you. You bring it with you. So, I wish you the best, but most importantly, health and happiness. Because no matter how strong you are, you have to be healthy. You have to be happy. So, I hope that, I wish that God, in his infinite wisdom, will keep you healthy, safe, and happy in his embrace always. Thank you, my friend. I actually believe this is probably the first portrait in America's history of a bald man. If you think about it, I've seen many, I've yet to see one that was, I guess, challenged, bald, bald, bald. We are. I think we're going to start with LL Cool J, though, right? But first of all, congratulations. Well deserved and look forward to working with you. And now, the one we've been waiting for, Oliver G. Gilbert III. Congratulations, my friend. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And so, let me just tell you, first of all, thank you, Chairman. This is a wonderful tradition to start. And it represents something that not many people in this room will understand. You and I do, because you understand the burden of being a chairman of the county commission. Look, when people think of the county, they think of the mayor as they should. She's our strong mayor. Before that, they thought of the manager. They have photos downstairs. When you're the chairman of the county commission, you're balancing extraordinarily talented individuals. The needs of a diverse community, a private sector that has a thirst to constantly grow and go. You're balancing it all. It's not insignificant. And so, when you are the chair, when you're the head of the legislative branch of a government that's this big and this impactful, it wears on you. And so, I know that it's hard on you. You knew it was hard on me. You didn't believe me when I told you that it was difficult. You didn't believe me. But now you know. But there are people here. Teresa Theralis, who was the head of the BCC when I was the chairman. And Sandra Pierre-Paul. And Akeem Brutus. And Jennifer Moon isn't here. And Jose back there. He's gone on to be like a lobbyist or something. You know. I didn't do it by myself. An extraordinary vice chairman who always was willing to stand in for me when I could not make it. It wasn't just me. It was us. I represented us. I appreciate this tradition because I think that we did a good job and we continue to do a good job. This isn't going to be easy. The person who's the chair represents the legislative body of a county that is the most dynamic and diverse community in the country. A county that's going to be the capital of this hemisphere. That's what we do. And sometimes it's minimized because we're not the people they see, but we are the people who make it work. And so I appreciate the folks who selected me to be chair. I appreciate the ability to serve with you all. I appreciate everyone who worked with me, my staff now, and the folks who worked with me when I was chairman because, yeah, we did have the fastest budget hearing in history, which is good. Yeah, we did. And we had a lot of wasted food and stuff at the end. But what it showed was our ability to work together. Our ability to work together is special. It needs to continue because as we go and we grow, so does this county. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this honor. Thank you. And this is the portrait we had reproduced. This exact same portrait hangs in Miami Garden City Hall. And that's intentional. Yeah. It's intentional because I always want people to remember that the same kid who grew up in Miami Gardens became the mayor and became the chairman of the board of this county commission. Thank you all very much. All right, now we'll do a photo and then the sergeants will put the portrait up on the wall as we take our seats and start our meeting. Thank you. Okay. Good to see you. One that's going to stay for the meeting, please take your seats. Commissioners that serve on the committee, quiet in the chamber. Let's get the meeting started. I can please, while the sergeants organize the podiums, if I can have the YEP students please walk up to the front of the chamber. Please line up the YEP students. Bear with the podiums here. Make sure you're all kind of in the middle here. First and foremost, welcome to our chamber. Thank you for being here on the very first day of this year's second annual YEP program initiative. So congratulations. You all woke up early and are giving us a portion of your summer to learn about the very exciting work that government does. So we'll speak more about that later. I'm going to plan to go and speak to you all on the 18th floor. But in the meantime, if you can all please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you so much. You may all be seated now. Thank you, guys. We're going to have, because I think it's fitting, I'm going to catch him off guard, but because I think it's fitting for Oliver Gilbert to lead us in prayer this morning. And I think it's fitting that now as he leads us in prayer, his portrait is overlooking this great prestigious chamber. Congratulations. We could clap for that. Congratulations. Please lead us in prayer. All right, if everyone could, everybody be still for a second and bow your heads. Please rise for prayer. God, our Father, on this day that we've never seen before and that we will never see again, we come first just saying thank you. Thank you for your abundance and love and grace. Thank you for allowing us to wake another day. Thank you that last night wasn't our last night. Today, we come asking your wisdom. Give us the mindset to lead, to make decisions that benefit this community, decisions that manifest your will here on earth. Make us strong. Make us wise. Amen. All right. You may be seated now. All right. Mr. Attorney. See, sometimes I'm so used to saying Madam Attorney. I have the habit of looking up. You can't hear me? Oh, you can't hear? All right. I'll speak. Maybe we got to raise the microphone just a little bit. Just a little bit. All right, Mr. Attorney, let's move to our item one. Let me see. Oh, I guess I have to do reasonable opportunity first. Yes, sir. All right. Reasonable opportunity for the public to be heard is now open. I will call your name. You will have two minutes to speak on the item. Please state the item you're speaking on, your name and address for the record to start. And I have Chad Friedman. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the commission. First, I want to start with saying congrats to Commissioner Gilbert. It's a wonderful honor. You deserve it. I'm here today on behalf of the League of Cities to talk about items 2C and 2D on the agenda. On items 2C, the League of Cities is not an objection to the change in qualifying dates. We would just ask that there be a slight delay in the effective date because we have six cities in Miami-Dade County whose qualifying dates have already been published and which elections occur in the first part of 2027. So we would ask a slight delay to June 1st of 2027. We think that would be reasonable. In items 2D, Section 6.04A, we would just like a clarification that on the annexations that the cities would not be required to file a petition. We would hope that the language could be clarified or at least made clear that cities may initiate annexations in accordance with the charter but not subject to the petition requirements. Also, in item 2D, Section 6.05, the cities would request that, although we recognize the county commission can continue with its moratorium on annexations and incorporations, when there is the three-year cycles for the boundary commission that's being created, that at least the moratorium be lifted so during those three-year cycles cities or individuals can seek to have an annexation or incorporation. We think that would be consistent with the intent of creating the boundary commission, and we ask for those small changes today. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. All right. Public hearing or reasonable opportunity is now closed. I only have one person registered to speak. I will allow it, but you didn't register. Just state your name and address and then add your name to the list. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I apologize. Orrin Rosenthal, General Counsel for the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections, 2700 Northwest 87th Avenue, Doral, Florida. I'm here on items 2A through 2G, which are ballot questions proposed both by the charter and by resolution by the Charter Review Task Force. The supervisor would like to thank the hard work of the Charter Review Task Force, and I rise merely to make a point about the number of ballot questions that are being proposed. In 2012, we had one school board question and seven charter questions that were put on the ballot, in addition to other questions that were also put on the ballot. That led to very long lines and to voter frustration because of the sheer number. And I just want to remind the chair and the board that the number of ballot questions is important. You enacted a rule, Rule 9.0305, which for presidential elections doesn't apply to this cycle, but for presidential elections, anything after three ballot questions because of the number, you would need a two-thirds vote. Now, that doesn't apply, but I'd like to recommend that the board take into account this issue when considering which ballot questions to put on or whether to combine them. Because in addition to causing a lot more time for people to review all those questions and some voter frustration because they have to go through all those questions, it may also require, depending on what other things get put on, an extra ballot page in the November election. And because we're also talking about budgets today, I just wanted to inform the board that if this goes over to another ballot page, it would cost the county about $1.5 million, depending on how many questions you adopt. So I just rise to speak on those issues and to provide this committee that information as it considers which one of the seven proposed questions to move forward. Thank you very much, and that's actually very informative, so I appreciate that. And I failed to do this at the beginning, but I want to just recognize, even though I know we'll be hearing from them in a second, but I want to recognize the constitutional officers, welcome to the chamber. We have a supervisor of election, Alina Garcia, our clerk and comptroller, Juan Fernandez-Barquing, our sheriff, Rosy Codero-Stutz, and our property appraiser, Tomas Regalado. I think we have almost a quorum. Well, we have a quorum of the constitutionals for sure. I think we're just missing the one that's always here. That's very odd. That's very odd. Yeah. Our tax collector must be collecting taxes somewhere right now because he would not miss this for the world. All right. Thank you for that. With that, I will close reasonable opportunity at this time. And, of course, during those that are going to be doing a presentation at the appropriate time, of course, you'll have additional time to speak on those matters as well. Mr. Attorney, should we set the agenda at this time? Yes, Mr. Chair. The matters for consideration are those on your official agenda, which includes the changes in the changes memo, the additions, and the scriveners' errors. All right. So, the agenda moved by Commissioner Lopez, seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez. All in favor of setting the agenda, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed nay. So, the agenda hereby set. At this time, Mr. Attorney, can we take up item 1G1 and 1G1 substitute, which is my item? Yes, Mr. Chair. 1G1 and 1G1 substitute. This is a public hearing item. Ordnance creating section 8-9 of the code of Miami-Dade County, Florida, requiring the county mayor or county mayor's designee to develop and implement a same-day permitting program for certain permit applications for certain residential projects and to provide reports every six months, providing severability, inclusion in the code, and an effective date. 1G1, 1G1 substitute, public hearing item. All right. I'm going to go ahead and open up public hearing at this time. When I call your name, please state the item you're speaking on, which is this one, of course. And you will have two minutes to speak. Ms. Burton. I will not need two minutes. I assure you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, it was a beautiful ceremony for Chairman Oliver. It was just great. It was really, really good to see, first. Second, truly Burton, on behalf of the Builders Association of South Florida, their executive vice president, we are fully in support of this item. It does several good things. It increases the number of permitted work, because there's a proliferation of just put up the fence or fix up my driveway or whatever, first. And homeowners need this. They really, really do, number one. Number two, it also will then meet the Florida Building Code requirements, because sometimes these things don't, and that's not safe, and we don't want any of that. It continues to maintain high standards. And finally, equally important, we would request, and to make sure that the, with the mayor's office, that through administration, that the proper number of building department staff be added or adjusted to make sure that these permits can get taken care of quickly. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Barron. And do I have anyone else registered to speak? No? All right. With that, public hearing is now closed on this item. Sure. So, but I do have an amendment to make if the county attorneys can read the amendment. Chairman Rodriguez moves to amend item 1G1 substitute as follows. On page MDC-006, clarify in subsection 8-9-B that an applicant in the same-day permit program may choose not to have a meeting and may still receive same-day application review and, as appropriate, same-day approval of the permit application. Also, on page MDC-007, replace subsection 8-9-E to provide that for those applications not approved on the same day. If the reported factors contributing to the delay were caused by the reviewing department rather than by the applicant, then the building permit fee shall be reduced by 10% per business day in accordance with section 553.7921E Florida statutes, as may be amended or by such greater amount as may otherwise be established by state law or county ordinance, resolution, or implementing or administrative order. Thank you. And that just synchronizes it with state law. I think state law prohibits us from giving a full refund, but there is statutory language saying that we can give reductions per every day that we're delayed in our process. So, essentially kind of accomplishing the same goal, a little bit different than I would have originally liked, but we get to the same end goal. So, with that, Commissioner Gilbert moves the item, seconded by Commissioner Lopez. Yes. Any discussion on it? Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. As amended, yes. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. Thank you, Mr. Chair. To the administration, do we currently not offer any same-day permits in Miami-Dade County? Is this ordinance a first of its kind, or are there existing opportunities to acquire same-day permits in this county? Yes, ma'am. There's a number of same-day permits. I'll see if someone from RER can give you some examples of what they are, but we do have some, yes. Okay, but the ones that are created in this ordinance for residential, that previously was a process that took much longer than one day? Good morning, Mr. Chairman, council members, commission members. Sergio Asgunsa, building official, Miami-Dade County. The list that you have in the ordinance are consistent with what we provide today as what we call 24-hour processing. Historically, they were called walk-throughs when we were paper-based, and you literally walk from one station to the other. As of 2008, we started our concurrent plan processing program, which kind of electronically processed these concurrently, which saved times. Today, we're fully online. We're fully, all of our permits are electronically processed. Our initial reviews, when they're undertaken electronically, they're much quicker. We have built a lot of efficiencies, and we have built streamlined processes. But the list, we're happy to commit to the list because those are actually what we do process. I will say that currently, those reviews, 95% of those of our reviews today on the list of permit types are done within eight hours. 5% of those are done within the ninth hour, which is our next business day. So we were concerned with the original language because they were, you know, become free permits. But thank you, Mr. Chair, for the amendment on that. And thank you for that. I just, I asked the question because I wanted to highlight that obviously we should be doing everything we can to expedite permits in Miami-Dade County and get our residents the permits that they need to do the work on their homes. And so I'm happy to hear that. And I hope that the ordinance is not aspirational, but it's going to be something that we actually implement and enforce in the county so that we can get the permits out as quickly as possible. So thank you for bringing the item, Mr. Chair. I'm certainly in support. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. And that's exactly right, Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. Some of these are same-day permits now, but it's done administratively. I'm codifying that and putting some sort of penalty on ourself. We often apply, I mean, we, this body, haven't seen, done it much, but government could apply fees and penalties on those that don't comply within, as far as residents go, but we don't, we barely ever put penalties on ourselves. So this adds that. That amendment adds penalties on ourselves. Shall we not comply with our own ordinance or shall the administration or RER in this instance? So, all right, with that, all in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Oh, I need a roll call for this. Yep, it is. Call the roll. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins? Four. Commissioner Gonzalez? Four. Commissioner Lopez? Yes. Vice Chairman Gilbert? Chairman Rodriguez? Oh, yes. Motion passes unanimously. All right, show the item passed. All right, can we, Mr. Attorney, can we have, and I don't know, the next several items are sponsored by Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins, do you want to move all your items unless somebody wants to bifurcate one, or do you want to discuss each one? How do you prefer to do it? I'm happy to move the items on the agenda that I have sponsored, Mr. Chair. All right, so I just, so let's do this. Why don't we move all the items? I just need to bifurcate 2G and 3A. So let's bifurcate 2G and 3A. Any other bifurcations? The, Mr. Chair, if I may be recognized, the attorneys this morning told me that there is, it's not a Scrivener's error, but there is language that they would like to clarify. To the attorney, remind me, please, on which of the specific items you needed clarifying language. It would be 2E, the ballot question dealing with the constitutional officers. Okay, so 2E, I believe, Mr. Chair, needs to be pulled for a clarifying amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we'll do that. All right, so you want to move the remainder of the items? It's been moved by Commissioner Cohen-Higgins, seconded by Gonzalez. Do we need a roll call? All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Show those passed. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins, you're recognized on 2E. Thank you, Mr. Chair. If Mr. Valdez, our county attorney, can read the clarifying amendment to 2E, please. Yes, Commissioner, the proposed ballot amendment itself in section 1.07 uses the phrase at the earliest possible time thereafter that the supervisor of elections has confirmed availability to conduct such election multiple times throughout. The first and third time that that phrase is used in section 1.07, we're recommending that you replace it with, or if not possible, then at the earliest possible time thereafter that the supervisor of elections has confirmed availability to conduct such election because the sentence, those two sentences have the word thereafter earlier in the sentence, and it would just make it very clear that that would only apply if you can't conduct the election during the time frame that's set forth. So just that one clarification, that's the only amendment. Thank you, Mr. Valdez. I move 2E as amended, and Mr. Chair, I do request in order to make the November ballot that 2A, B, 2C, 2D, 2E, and 2F be advanced to our July 21st hearing. That's a, that reason merits to do that. So, all right, so it's been moved as amended, seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez. All in favor signify by saying aye. All opposed, nay. Show 2E passed. Mr. Attorney, can we take up item 2G? Yes. And I have, do I have an amendment already prepared? I do. Can you read my amendment? Yes, Mr. Chair. The proposed amendment would, in the proposed ballot language that's in attachment A on MDCC-009, the phrase, and that all revenues generated from such advertising be for the exclusive use of the park where such advertising occurs, it would now read that all revenues generated from such advertising be for the exclusive use of the park's system. And the ballot question on page MDC-005 would now read, provided that such advertising does not unreasonably impair the public use of the park, or damage the park, and have any revenue generated, be for the exclusive use of the park's system. All right. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins, would you move my item? Move it, Mr. Chair. Seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, and you're recognized, Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so, I just have a quick question about the park system. So, this would allow for parks to generate revenue within the park, right? And then, that revenue would then go to the parks department in general? Is that what the amendment does? That's what the amendment does for now. And then, I think, from my understanding from the lawyers, is that administrative, not administratively, but by this body, legislatively, we can then bring legislation after this, assuming it passes, to maybe create park regions. Because what we don't want to do is for folks to just start advertising in our region, you know, four or five regional parks throughout the county, and then our small community neighborhood parks kind of start to fall behind. So, we want to spread it, but we also want to try to contain the funds to sort of a zone. It doesn't necessarily need to be a commission district. We don't want, maybe don't want to do that, but that's a decision of this body in the future. Got it. And then, I would think that part of that conversation would be, because, for example, who would decide how we spend those funds? Would that be specifically to the administration and the parks department? Would that come back to us? I would just like to avoid having money parked when parks needs a lot of help right now. All right. So, this just brings in the possibility for this revenue to start flowing into the county, parks department specifically. I want to make sure that this isn't swept for any other department, but that it stays within the park system. And then we, as the legislative body, when we approve our annual budget, we decide kind of where we allocate the funds. But it'll stay within the park system. It won't go to the district commissioner. It won't go to water and sewer. It won't go to any other department other than Miami-Dade County Parks. I'll second it. All right. So, it's been moved by Commissioner Cohen-Higgins, seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, and Commissioner Gilbert, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I like the amendment and I appreciate the amendment of thoughtfulness. It's a very good thing. The idea that if we can generate money through advertising on our parks, it should actually go to parks and be spent in parks is a great idea. So, I think that's appropriate for the voters to actually look at and to vote on. I will say this, the one point I had, as I'm happy you amended, is it's very difficult when we say the instinct is, hey, we should try to keep it in the same area. But that kind of defeats the purpose of having a whole system. And so, I love the idea that you made it so that it go back to the system so that we can determine where those needs are and we can invest towards those needs. Because there have been underserved areas out west, down south, up north, there have been underserved areas. And us being able to generate money through larger assets and help other assets was very good. So, I appreciate it and I'm definitely joining this item. Thank you, Commissioner. And that's precisely why, working with our parks director, we decided to amend it to give us some more flexibility on it being spread throughout the system. So, Commissioner Nopin. Yeah, thank you again, Mr. Chairman, for the amendment, especially for District 5. We don't have any county parks because I'm fully City of Miami, City of Miami Beach. So, I think, as Commissioner Gilbert said, I think looking at the system greater than just our districts makes sense. Because there are going to be needs elsewhere in other districts. And so, I'm happy to see the park system, you know, kind of take the funds and then us decide where the greatest needs are. So, thank you for the amendment. Thank you. All right, with that, all in favor, as amended, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Show 2G passed. All right, 3A, Mr. Attorney, I have a motion on this item. So, would you want to read it at this time? Madam Attorney, Mr. Attorney, whoever sits down and takes the... Yes, Mr. Chair. Chairman Rodriguez moves to amend item 3A to reject the county mayor's recommendation to reject all proposals and to direct the county mayor or county mayor's designee to negotiate a non-competitive revenue-generating contract for the design, construction, financing, operation, and maintenance of a landfill gas conversion facility at the South Dade landfill site. Subject to the county mayor or mayor's designee filing with the clerk of the board a waiver of formal bid procedures pursuant to Section 5.03d of the Home Rule Charter and non-competitive bid waiver provisions of Section 2.8.1b.1 of the Code of Miami-Dade County and to bring back such negotiated contract to this board for approval. In the alternative, in the event that the county mayor or designee does not file the bid waiver within such time, Chairman Rodriguez moves to direct the county mayor or designee to provide a report to this board no later than September 1, 2026, explaining why such a bid waiver was not filed and to place the completed report on an agenda of the full board without committee review pursuant to Rule 5.06j of the Board's Rules of Procedure. So, colleagues, this, first and foremost, I'll say it, this is something I understand, I'll let the deputy mayor speak to it in a second, but this is something I understand the administration is supportive of. We've been working on trying to figure out what to do with this specific RFP. This was competitively bid out, and it was for two different locations, and all bidders just bid on one location, not on the other. So, kind of our process here, that's, of course, something we're trying to fix now with the strip committee, which we'll be hearing about soon, but, you know, our process here would require for us to throw it all out, and that's why the original recommendation from the mayor was to reject all bids and put it out for a brand-new RFP. I think that's a waste of time. That's going to waste several months at best, and so we found a way to, working with the lawyers, to kind of just have the mayor and the administration negotiate with the very same bidders that already went through the competitive bidding process, but on the one site that they're able to perform on. So, that's what this essentially does, and with that, if someone could move the item for me. So, it's been moved by Commissioner Cohen-Higgins, seconded by Gonzalez. Commissioner Lopez, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm just curious. I noticed that on December 29th, the county attorneys deemed all the proposals non-responsive, and here we are in July. What took so long for us to know that all of them had been deemed non-responsive? I guess that's a question to the administration. Yeah, and at that, to answer the question, also to be recognized, unless she has more questions, Deputy Mayor. Yeah, the item was submitted back through agenda, and it's just been going through the agenda process. It was submitted very quickly from the administration, but that's just the time through agenda. Thank you. When was that date, by the way? I want to know, because I didn't really hold it for much longer than a month. December 29th, 2025, it was deemed non-responsive. Yeah, it sounds like, that's long. Yes, 2025, that's what I'm saying. It's almost seven months. That's a long time. I think we should look at that. We should look at it, because I definitely did not hold that item. That's not one that I held. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. Did I hold it for longer than like a month or something? No? For like two months? Well, we figured this out, but certainly not since December. So, Deputy Mayor, you wanted to speak on it? Yes, Mr. Chairman, thank you. We very much support this item in moving forward. We do have a couple of challenges we wanted to bring to you. This item contemplated a lease on the property where the person could borrow money and invest in it. We have subsequently been of the belief that a bid waiver cannot include a lease. So, if we do not do a lease, is there a mechanism for us to go forward we're not certain of? If that's the case, our procurement department says that because of the time that's elapsed, they have already got the solicitation prepared to go out. If you want to put it out, they tell me they can be on the street within a week if we want to do that. But if we can do that lease the way you're proposing it, we very much support what you're doing. We're just not sure if we're going to hit a legal impediment. I wouldn't do this if the attorneys didn't bless it. So, if they change their mind now, then we have a bigger problem. So, do you guys want to respond to the Deputy Mayor's concerns? What is legally sufficient is that we can do an operating or management agreement. The lease is an issue, but it's our understanding that the bid waiver does not include a lease. So, it's to negotiate an operating and management agreement. And that can be done via a bid waiver. Okay, Eddie, so is the motion accurate the way it's written? I'm sorry, because my staff was talking to me. Yes, the motion is fine. Okay, so it's permissible, it's legal. They won't run into any roadblocks. So, what he's saying, Mr. Chairman, is we can do this through a management agreement. Then the only question is we go back to our bidders who originally contemplated a lease. And if they're willing to do a management agreement, we're fine. If for some reason they're not because they can't borrow money on a management agreement, then we'll be back to you. Correct. And I understand that, it is my understanding that from some bidders that have been in communication with the administration or with maybe our office, but I understand that it's acceptable to them to do it in this manner. Okay. Thank you, sir. That's my understanding. So, and this will save us six, seven, eight months of going back out to bid at best. So, with that, why can't include a lease? Is it something that state law prohibits or is it our rules? Because I'm just curious about why it wouldn't be able to include a lease. Madam Attorney. Generally speaking, state law defines when you can enter into a lease without formal seal bids or competitive bidding, and this may not fall within one of those limited exceptions. If it does, we're happy to look at it, but this one may not. All right. Sounds good. With that, all in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Show that item passed. All right. And now, does that conclude our actual agenda? As far as action items? The only thing left is the discussion item 1F. Which is presentations. But discussion, the action items are all done, right? Correct. All right. All right. Where do we start? First and foremost, did we promise anybody any specific order here? All right. We're going to start with the one that came up and spoke, or one of her representatives. Our supervisor of election, Alina Garcia. Come on up. Good morning. Congratulations, Commissioner Gilbert, Chairman Gilbert. I love the portrait. Great job. It's a great tradition. And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for bringing that forward. So, honorable chairman, commissioners, colleagues, administration, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today. Our mission is to instill trust, confidence, and conducting elections that are fair, accurate, transparent, secure, and accessible for every voter in Miami-Dade County. The supervisor of elections office fiscal year for 2025, our current annual budget, is $47 million. We have 151 full-time employees, all committed to excellence. And we hire up to 2,000 temporary workers. They join us during a presidential election. And up to 6,000 poll workers assist us during countywide elections. There are more than 1.6 million registered voters in Miami-Dade, making us the largest county in Florida in terms of voters. What we do is we administer and support elections. We serve the community. We safeguard democracy, promote participation, and provide voter services. Our proposal for fiscal year 2026-2027 is just over $52 million which will fund the 2026 general election. And other expected operating costs that support all functions of the supervisor of elections office. Our capital budget requests, funds, critical election, equipment, and other essential needs of the office. And I want to thank the board for all the new equipment that we did get. And it's absolutely wonderful, and it's going to make our elections a lot easier and better. Mr. Chairman, point of order, if you could just, hold on a second. Could you all quiet down? Yeah. Starts to get loud on the side. Yeah, go ahead. Although we have presented a fiscally responsible budget, we can be impacted by unforeseen challenges, such as redistricting, unscheduled special elections, recruitment of qualified temporary and poll workers county, and also constitutional office poll workers, and petitions processing. Our priorities are to continue increasing voter participation, expand and enhance our voter education, communications, and outreach strategies. Improve the voter experience at every touch point, and continue growing our civic education programs in public schools, private school, charter schools, colleges, and universities. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be here today. And I want to, I pray that God continues to bless Miami-Dade County and our great United States of America. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you so much, Madam Supervisor of Election, Alina Garcia, thank you for that, and thank you for keeping it brief. I will say that our tax collector, while not present, I would just like to put on the record, he has yet not submitted his budget to the county, so I think that's why he's not presenting. And our property appraiser, Tomas Regalado, I believe is present, but I understand he will not be doing a formal presentation, but I would recognize him for submitting a flat budget this year to the county. So thank you to our PA for being so fiscally responsible. If you wanted to say a couple words, you may. I was told you don't have, like, an official presentation, but you're welcome, of course, always to... Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Commissioner. Yes, actually, the DOR has not approved yet the budget that we send with me as our CFO. First of all, it will be maybe this week, we did have a great meeting with the mayor and her staff. And yes, we submit a provisional budget which is in tune with the times. So when we get approval, we're willing to go one by one, you, Mr. Chairman, all the commissioners, to briefing on the budget. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Property Appraiser. All right. I'm going to kind of go a little bit out of order because I was rushing too quickly at the beginning by calling my friend and colleague, Alina Garcia. I'm actually going to recognize OMB, our Office of Management and Budget, to give their brief presentation before we continue with the constitutional officers. And then at the end, of course, we'll have questions. If my colleagues can save their questions to the end, pretty much for everybody, yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And good morning, commissioners. And good morning to our constitutional offices, county attorneys. Ray Baker, Director, Office of Management and Budget. It's been a pleasure to work with you all over the last couple weeks as we've started to provide some preliminary briefings on the 26-27 budget. And as most everyone knows, by this coming Wednesday, I believe at 2.30 p.m. is when the mayor is going to be releasing formally the budget in all its details. Today, I'm going to provide a brief update on some of the major issues that we're facing in this upcoming budget. And if you'll allow me a few minutes to go through those slides, I will shoot for 10 minutes. So control room, next slide, please. Our guiding principles for this coming budget, of course, is getting always to a balanced budget, but doing so with discipline. One of our biggest priorities was making sure that we maintain the historic property tax rates that have been in place now for many years and the two past tax decreases that occurred. The budget is balanced at this point. It's been a challenging process, to say the least, to get to where we are now. But we have done so through fiscal stewardship. Not only the savings that we have found throughout our county departments in the current year, but we know the very smart decisions that our constitutional officers are also making and running their operations. It's a partnership and we're all doing our best to get to balanced. One of our highest priorities, of course, is protecting and maintaining our services throughout our departments and our constitutional offices. No greater priority than public safety, and we know transportation and our parks, and all of it is important. And this budget protects all of those areas while also prioritizing our libraries, our community-based organizations, and arts and cultural organizations. And I don't point those out to disclude anyone else, just to highlight. And we've also practiced discipline growth. With our county departments, we have directed them to reset the bar on their budgets. We've asked them to go back several times to reduce their expenditures. And that has been a big help in making sure that we're focusing on the things that are necessary and have the most community impact. As I mentioned in the prior slide, we are proposing the flat millage rate. All of the operating millage rates are at 0% change. And we're also, actually, the debt service is going down slightly. So the overall millage rate will slightly decrease, and we'll be in front of the board on the 21st for approval of the maximum millage rates. As we've known over a couple of years now, the five-year plan for the general fund has shown four things. The fire and library districts are well-balanced for the next five years at their current millage rates and current property tax assumptions. The countywide general fund and the UMSA general fund have been out of balance. And we have seen challenges and limitations on the amount of general fund growth. This year alone, we saw the countywide tax roll decrease to 5.4%. Just two years ago, it was at 10.7%. That creates a fiscal pressure on being able to continue to provide our services, forcing us to be even more wise in how we approach developing the budget each year. There's also been other things, whether it's sales tax holidays, the commercial rental tax exemption or elimination that was caused last year, that had a recurring impact of approximately $65 million on our budget. So all of these things have added up to an overall general fund revenue growth of approximately 4.2% is what we're expecting for 2627. And on the expenditure side, healthcare, which we'll talk more about in a moment. The cost of living increase that was approved in April of 2026 is factored into the 2627 budget. Florida retirement rate system increases, inflationary costs, and changes in state law that have occurred that are also putting additional pressure on our expenditures. And to put a finer point on the healthcare, our switch to Aetna last year, which just went into effect in January, we are guaranteed $34.2 million in savings over two years. And that would have otherwise caused a much larger increase had we not switched plans at that time. And on healthcare, medical and pharmacy, healthcare in general costs have been going up for over a decade, roughly 7% per year. And that's driven by specialty drugs, higher utilization, provider costs, something that's not unique to Miami-Dade. Last year when we switched to Aetna, that is going to be a game changer for how we control our healthcare costs going forward. We have a responsibility to keep 60 days of claims in reserve in our healthcare trust fund. And that requires us to this year and probably next year as well to continue to increase our employer contribution for healthcare. And the goal is to rebuild that trust fund back up to the 60 days requirement of the Department of Insurance regulation. So how did we balance the budget this year? We had some additional revenues in 2526. One of the major ones being additional interest earnings. Throughout our departments, we've also generated savings and carryover through WISE 305 initiatives, including efficiency projects and also slowing down hiring as well, which has generated additional carryover to balance the budget. We are assuming the World Cup in-kind reserve will have available funding to help us budget for next year. We are also recommending in the mayor's proposed budget, another transfer of the Transportation Infrastructure Investment District Fund to support transit operations. And unlike last year, in this year's budget and our collaboration and partnership with the constitutional offices, we are anticipating certain carryover and unspent funds that we are programming as part of the 26-7 budget on the front end. These are not guesses. These are informed decisions that either we have discussed with the constitutionals or have, through our own analysis of our budgets, arrived at. And finally, our expenditure reductions. We have asked our departments to right-size their budgets. In many cases, we've asked them to go down to 3% expenditure growth from the current year. So some of the items I just mentioned, in the 2526 budget, we will be carrying over $42 million in efficiency savings, additional carryover, additional revenues, such as I mentioned before, such as additional interest earnings, $40.8 million. And to get the budget balanced, we asked our departments to reduce an additional $79 million from their initial budget proposals to arrive at our proposed budget. And supporting our constitutional offices. As I said, public safety and all our constitutionals are equally important and more important in many cases. And our offices work collaboratively with the county to understand their trends, their needs. I would say our office, OMB, is working daily with the constitutional offices on all the different matters that we need to work through to make sure that they have what they need and can function effectively. Our 26-27 proposed budget will be lower than what they have requested. But we believe in line with current and historical trends, their upcoming needs, and our understandings of their past and current budgets. And we also include in our proposed budget an additional $20.8 million in general fund debt service that is used for fleet equipment, helicopters, maintaining our buildings, et cetera. We know that's an important part of keeping our operations going. And overall, the additional $66.4 million is from the FY2526, the amount above what is in the FY2526 budget. As you can see in this slide, this shows the different constitutional offices' initial budget submittals. And we really want to thank them for working for us. Many of them came back with revised budgets as well. But we essentially, in order to balance this budget, had to reach a number that would allow us to get to zero on the overall budget. And we believe that the numbers we have recommended are reasonable in line with their historical trends and allow them to complete their statutorily required duties in an effective manner. And to that point, I also want to mention that we know there's processes in place for our departments if extraordinary things come up throughout the year to be able to come back for additional funding if things don't land where they're supposed to. But we think that these are reasonable numbers for us to put out there, and we look forward to working with them throughout the remainder of the budget process to get to where we need to be. And our final slide, another very tough issue that we've been working through, all of us have been working through for the past few years, is transit. We do have a shortfall in transit. Also impacted by the loss of the commercial rent tax back in 2025. Just another fiscal pressure that was put on this department and its revenues and expenditures. We have kept special transportation services and Metro Connect in place in the budget. We are not recommending at this time yet any fare increases or fuel tax increases. But there is a recommendation for some transit route reductions to address this structural financial shortfall. We don't like making any of these recommendations. We want to keep everyone whole. But we know that a long-term sustainable path remains to be developed, and we need to begin doing that in consultation with this board. And finally, what's next? As I said, the proposed budget is released on July 15th. The maximum millage rates will be before the board next week. Trim notices mailed out in August. We'll have six community events in August as well. And then our budget hearings on September 3rd and September 17th. So thank you very much for the time, Mr. Chairman. We appreciate it. Thank you. And we'll hold the questions to the end. But Commissioner Gilbert, I know you may not be thrilled to do this, but I may need to entertain a motion. Yeah, I think we need to move to extend this committee meeting. The time is run. At least another 30, 45 minutes? Yeah. All right, so let's do another 45 minutes for now, and then if we need to revisit it, we will. And if we end early, then we'll just end early. All right, so it's been moved, it's been seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez. All in favor of extending, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, nay shows officially extended. Mr. Chairman, and I don't know if it's necessary, but just for the purposes of folks who are here for airport, airport's going to start directly after this. Correct, yes. I know I do see some here for airport, I believe. So, yes, immediately after Policy Council, Aviation Committee will begin, Aviation and Port Committee. All right, so I think I'll save, I'm not going to say the best because then we all get jealous, but I will save the best for last, but I'll save the sheriff for last. And I'll call up my friend and colleague, clerk and court, Comptroller Juan Fernandez-Barquín. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Commissioners. I want you all to understand that last year we essentially bet against ourselves because we couldn't fully grasp the effect of the transition. And keep in mind that last year we also returned funds. This year we know for a fact that our requests will cover our base level of service, taking, especially taking into account the collective bargaining agreement obligations that we inherited from the transition. I also want you to keep in mind that the increase is also partly due to the technological, the technology and the facilities which are now fully reflected on our budget, where previously it was reflected on the county non-departmental funds. And I'm going to pass it over to Ms. Barbara Galvez, my CAO. Good morning, Barbara Galvez, Chief Administrative Officer for the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller's Office. So our proposed budget reflects funding for a total of 452 positions to cover those services that are either constitutionally required, funding from the county for the areas of the Clerk of the Board, the Recorder's Office, the Value Adjustment Board, our Marriage License Areas, our Tax Seed Section. Some of those revenues are offset by code enforcement revenue and recorder revenues. For fiscal year 26-27, as the clerk mentioned, we did come in with an artificially low budget when you're comparing budget to budget 26 to 27. Our prior year budget only grew by 4.5% compared to the other county departments and constitutional offices. We no longer are receiving revenue from the tax collector and the supervisor of elections, as they have chosen to no longer use the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller for financial services. In addition, we did have to absorb and continue to address the annualization costs of the 4% COLA that was previously approved during this fiscal year. As well as the merit adjustments and the increases to group health. Our budget also includes a higher level of attrition in the area of the controller audit function. As it has taken us quite a bit of time to try to hire or recruit the positions necessary to perform that function. Our ask of the general fund is $7.4 million. It is a 20% increase from our prior year budget. We did evaluate and made a very careful effort on trying to figure out how we can reduce that general fund number. And we did include attrition within the controller audit operations area, understanding that it is taking us longer than anticipated to fill those 31 positions. Overall, the cost of our growth specific to collective bargaining obligations is 65% of that number, which is $4.5 million. The balance is associated, as the clerk mentioned, to reflecting certain charges on our side of the budget, which previously were reflected on the county side. But in addition to that, the rates for services associated with those costs has also increased as some of these services are provided at an overtime rate. because they have to happen during after hours. They cannot happen during the day. For the clerk of the court function of the house, which are the areas associated with the clerk of the board, county recorder, marriage license value adjustment board, and court enforcement, we did add 14 positions in the budget. Of those positions, please understand that they're not actually full one per one. These are all costs allocated throughout the entire system, and it's portions of positions. Seven of the 14 positions were actually conversions of temporary staff into permanent budgeted positions. Because we do have a recruitment issue today, in many cases, because it takes so long to recruit, we have to bring in temporary service help to help continue providing the service that's required to meet the demands of our front counter and our back operations. On the controller finance side, the growth is associated again with, part of it is loss of revenue. We did reduce four positions associated with the services that were being provided to the constitutionals that are no longer being provided. The revenue loss was $1.7 million. Again, it's everything that we have in this particular section of the budget is all associated with salary related items. And we did reduce, as I mentioned, the net growth here is two positions, or reduction actually is two positions. Because out of the four positions, two of them, we did have two over positions during the year to help support some of the functions within the maintenance of the informed system, or the county's ERP system. For controller audit operations, the growth in the general fund is $1.84 million. We do have some revenue losses as we no longer are able to carry over any revenue that remains within the fund as that revenue has to be provided back to the county. Which in previous years, that was something that you could offset general fund growth by. Again, all of the costs associated in this particular budget reflect personal growth associated with collective bargaining obligations. In addition, if you notice, we did, as I mentioned before, include an 8% attrition that we had not included before. Understanding that it's taking us longer than any other area to recruit because there's a lot of competition in these types of positions. And we're actually even competing with the county that can provide higher salaries than we can. So we can aggressively continue to recruit, but it's just taking longer than we anticipate. Lastly, during this fiscal year, the county has agreed to transfer the systems of records as it relates to our ERP systems to the clerk's office. We are currently in the process of finalizing those negotiations. As of right now, this could change. We had identified 108 positions, both filled and vacant, but we're still going through those numbers and trying to whittle it down to be whatever necessary to support the system. This will require a mid-year or end-of-year budget supplement to our budget, as we do not have the funding to support or absorb those positions for what remains of this fiscal year. It is anticipated that we would do that by August 3rd of this year. It will also require an adjustment to our proposed budget for 26-27, and we anticipate that that would be included in either the first or second change memo that comes before the board during your budget hearing process. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. We're going to leave the questions for the end. We're going to go through the last constitutional officer, and then we're going to... I'm sure there's going to be several questions, so stick around, please. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Of course. All right. And our last constitutional officer presenting today, our Sheriff. Madam Sheriff, please approach the well. Good morning, Chair and members of the Policy Committee. Good morning. Budgets are more than financial documents. They are statements of our priorities. The first responsibility of government is to protect the health, safety and welfare of its residents. If that is our highest obligation, then there can be no greater priority than public safety. Each of you has a responsibility to the constituents who elected you. I have that same responsibility to every resident of Miami-Dade County as a countywide elected sheriff. The voters entrusted me with the responsibility of protecting this community, but I cannot fulfill that responsibility without this committee and this board providing the resources necessary to do so. The sheriff's proposed budget represents a 4.96% increase over the fiscal year 2526 budget, totaling 46.1 million. This request is measured, responsible, and based on operational needs. I also want to remind the committee and the board of the 62.5 million collective bargaining commitment that was approved three years ago and is now in its final year. This is not a new request. This is a commitment that has already been made and now must be honored. Unlike many other government functions, law enforcement budgets cannot rely solely on historical trends. They must also account for future operational needs and emerging threats that are often impossible to predict. We are expected to be prepared for every emergency, every major event, every natural disaster, every act of violence, and every evolving public safety threat. We have to be right every day, while those who seek to harm our community only have to be right once. That readiness requires people, training, equipment, facilities, and technology. Most importantly, it requires the dedicated men and women who wear this badge. This year's budget request includes an increase of 75 deputies to meet these requirements. Yet today, our starting deputies earn up to 19% less than officers in neighboring agencies. It is an increasingly competitive environment, and that gap directly impacts our ability to recruit and retain the highly qualified professionals our community depends upon. Public safety begins with people, and competitive compensation is essential to maintaining the workforce that protects this county. Our request also addresses critical infrastructure needs that have been deferred for far too long. This includes the long-awaited Eureka District Station, which was previously fully funded in the county's capital budget, as well as essential upgrades to aging facilities that are necessary to ensure safe, reliable, and uninterrupted operations. These are not enhancements or new initiatives. They are fundamental operational requirements. I would respectfully request, as it has been done in prior years, that any unexpended fiscal year 2526 end balances be directed back towards supporting the Sheriff's fiscal year 2627 budget. When considering this budget, I ask that you recognize that the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office is unlike any other county department. Every day our deputies willingly place themselves between danger and the people that they serve. They respond without hesitation, often placing their own lives at risk, so others may live safely. That responsibility is unique. The resources required to fulfill it must reflect in that reality. Every dollar requested in this budget is directly tied to our ability to protect lives, safeguard neighborhoods, support our deputies, and meet the expectations of the residents of Miami-Dade County and what they have placed upon us all. This is a responsible budget. It reflects careful stewardship of taxpayer dollars while ensuring that public safety remains the priority it must always be. I respectfully ask that you fully fund that budget as submitted, and thank you for your continued consideration. One minor note I would like to add, and I fully respect the presentation made in regards to the budget proposal for the Sheriff's Office. The numbers that were represented were a 12% increase that included the commitment, and then they are recommending a 6%, about 50% of what we asked for. That 6% does not even cover the commitment that was made on the collective bargaining, and I only point that out so that in your consideration you keep that in mind. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Sheriff. All right. I'm sure that there's going to be several questions from the day, so I'll lead off with Commissioner Cohen Higgins, and of course you can ask questions of the administration of OMB. You can ask questions of any of the constitutionals that are present, and just have an ebb and flowing Q&A as you wish. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for having the presentations for our consideration on this morning's agenda. And I want to thank the administration for the budget presentation that they gave, and I certainly want to thank our constitutional offices, all of which are here and gave presentations. I want to thank our property appraiser for essentially keeping your budget flat. Our supervisor of elections, I want to commend the great work that you're doing as a candidate. Frankly, I get a lot of communication from your office. You all are on top of things, so I'm seeing firsthand how effective you're running that office, and I thank you for that. To our clerk and our comptroller, similar sentiment, continue doing the great job that you're doing. I adore the budget dashboard that you recently released and your ability to provide that love of transparency to the public. I'm extremely grateful for, and so thank you for doing that. And to our sheriff, thank you. You're doing an extraordinary job. We have done a really great job as a community hosting FIFA. It's something that we all braced for, and we're not sure how that was going to turn out. But, I mean, look at the soaring success that we have demonstrated as a community, and that is in great part thanks to your leadership and your officers and the incredible work that they have done to keep this community safe and organized and orderly during these world-class events. So I greatly thank you for that. As we enter this budget season, I know we're not going to get into heavily detailed conversations at this juncture, Mr. Chair. I do think we need to start having real conversations about how we are going to manage these budgets every single year and the requests that come in against the fiscal realities that we are facing in Miami-Dade County. And none of the presentations from either the administration or the constitutionals was the discussion regarding what we believe to be on the horizon, which is an important vote in November regarding property tax reform in this state and how that's going to significantly affect our budget. And so to the administration, the budget that is proposed currently that we are going to pass in September, if you can just briefly describe for me whether or not the budget contemplates, the budget this year that is not going to be affected by what happens in November, obviously that will take effect, I believe, the next fiscal year. But does the budget contemplate, put money away, or are we just going to wait for that vote and then plan after that to the administration? Through the chair, thank you for the question. The budget that is presented contemplates to the extent that we are trying to bend the cost curve. Whether that vote happens or not, we need to reduce our annual spending to address the fact that revenue is down. And so we do anticipate that when or if that proposition passes, we will have to do some significant changes to our business operations. But we have already started that process. We started it last year. And we'll continue to do that work. And thank you for that. And I think it's important that you know when or if, you know, I think it's going to be a when. Frankly, that's just my personal, humble opinion. And I think, ideally, we would be putting money away and parking money, frankly, in anticipation of what I think is going to be a reality that we all, and by we all I mean our county and our constitutional offices need to brace for that impact. And so I look forward to having further discussions in that regard. And then specifically regarding the request that we received from our constitutionals. For me, there seems to be a disconnect because if I heard the presentation by the administration correctly, there was mention of our directive to our department of an increase of 3%. The charge was made to all Miami-Dade County departments, do not raise your department budgets by greater than 3%. But we have requests from our constitutionals that are much higher than that. And I know we're working with them. We're going to figure out how we're going to reconcile those differences. But my question is, what is the growth in the tax rolls from one year to the next? What is the percent growth in our tax rolls that we are looking at from last year to this year? Through the chair, Director Baker can answer that question. Hello, Commissioner. 5.4% on the countywide. Okay. 6.2% on UMSA. And 5.4 and 5.4 for library and fire, respectively. Okay. And so, and again, I know we're going to work with our constitutionals and I look forward to meeting with all of them individually. But when we have a charge for departments of don't raise your budgets by more than 3% and growth in the rolls at an average of about 4% or 5%, I'm going to need a lot of explanation as to requests that are, you know, 20%, 21% year over year on budget request increases. And I look forward to having those conversations. I know we're not going to get into those details now. Final question. And thank you, Director, for being at the podium. You mentioned healthcare at the opening and rising healthcare costs, which I think is important. But very recently, we switched providers entirely in the county. That was a very, very big decision and a very big move. And that decision was made under the representation that we would save $40 million. But I didn't see that in your presentation. Did we realize those savings from that major transition in healthcare providers here in the county? Do you want to cover that? Through the chair. Yes, we are actually realizing savings with the switch from AVMed to Aetna. That savings is helping us address a deficit in the healthcare trust fund. That's the fund that's used to pay the claims. And so with this switch, we should, over the next two years, see at least a $34 million impact, which will reduce the deficit in the trust fund. And the chart that we showed shows how it goes up. And we'll be able to have cash reserves, which are required by the state. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Nothing further. Thank you so much. Commissioner Lopez, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Don't go far. I have a question. So one of the things, when I was a budget chair for the state, we struggled with healthcare costs. In particular, we struggled with the increasing high cost of pharmaceuticals, right? Our drug plan. And so we were always looking to see whether we needed to revise or create a formulary. And I noticed that you had here that the costs were projected to be 9% in 2027, driven by specialty drugs, higher utilization provider costs. I guess my question is, have we done an analysis of our formulary if we have one? And if we don't, are we going to create one? Because I think what I found was that there were a few members of our state plan who were using the highest cost drugs. And there were other alternatives that they could use. And so we began to look at how much we would save if we could change the formulary. So that's my first question. Go ahead. Through the chair. Thank you for your question, Commissioner. Yes, the county does use a formulary. One of the things that we did when we switched from AvMed to Etna was we asked for everything to stay the same for the first year. So that there wasn't a drastic change in the employee's experience. So we are actually evaluating and looking at the analysis of the pharmaceutical spend and working with Etna on a plan that we would like to take to our collective bargaining units to see if we can have some amendments or changes that will save us money. As a follow-up, I'd like to be provided an analysis of where the highest costs are in terms of our membership, both the collective bargaining units and the remaining members of the plan. Because I think you'll be very surprised to see where the highest costs are. And it could be, look at the state, it was five people using the most expensive drugs, the most expensive treatment when there were alternatives that would have provided the same level of care. So I'd like to see that. The other item that I learned being a budget chair was vacancies. And I know I've spoken about this before. So I'm curious if constitutional officers and the administration have a schedule of vacancies with the aging of how long those vacancies have been in play. And I don't know if that's a question everyone can answer today. But if not, I'd like to see those vacancies as well. And the aging because I found I was able to save millions of dollars at the state level by eliminating all vacancies over 90 days, except with the exception of law enforcement, which sometimes takes a little longer because it's a specialty skilled job. So that's another thing that I think we could find some savings in. And that's all my questions for now, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Gilbert. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Where do I start? No, Ray, you should probably stay. You should probably stay. You slipped it in because you have one of those nice, like very soothing. You're like a librarian voice, right? It's like soothing. So you slipped in that you were rating the TIF. You're rating the TIF. And so you did. When you did it, you looked up at me like it might have been subconsciously because you know that I am probably going to have a problem with rating the TIF. So I just want to express that I heard you. I accept that you said it. And, you know, we can do whatever we do with the report, but I don't necessarily accept that I'm agreeing to it. But I do understand why you're doing it. I understand why the administration is proposing it. It is. It's not unreasonable for this reason. We are right now hearing from the constitutional officers and administration and we're going to sit and we're going to allocate funds. Previously, we did this as a county, but now we do this as constitutional, separate constitutional bodies. We talked about the fact that it would cost money. It is, in fact, costing money. One of the things that was highlighted in the clerk's presentation is that we have two constitutional officers that are pulling out of informs. Now, to the folks in the audience who don't, aren't like bureaucratic nerds, informs means absolutely nothing. But it's the financial system that manages the operations of the county. Previously, it managed all of it. But constitutional officers, as is their right, have the ability to pull out of informs. The problem with that is it costs more money coming out of this pot. That's their right. I don't condemn them for it. When the constitutional amendment passed, we knew this day would come. This day is now here. So that's going to cost money. We understood that from the clerk's perspective, he was going to have to, he was going to absorb, whoever the clerk was going to absorb, their constitutional authority when they became more dependent from the county. But the county still needed folks to do internal stuff. And so there was going to have to be budgeting for folks on that end, but we would still have to maintain some of those salaries and people on this end. Because this is a huge corporation who actually has to have internal functions that allow it to operate. That is what it is. When we talk about transportation, there's been recent articles about transportation and the smart plan and building out rapid mass transit. I just want to be clear that we are not having a conversation that is substantially different than the conversation they had 30 years ago. 30 years ago, we had a chance to build out rapid mass transit. We chose not to because it was, I don't know, $300 million. Now it's billions. The lesson we can learn is that it won't get cheaper. The lesson we can learn is that it will not get cheaper and our inability to not address it will add to our congestion costs, meaning the amount of money that it costs us quietly because we absorbed the pain of sitting in traffic. But also, it has direct relation to housing. The challenge I have with the RTZ and you all pulling out of the TIFF and all of those things is because I know that we need to build density along rapid mass transit corridors that allow people to actually live without actually having a vehicle. If we don't do those things, becoming an urban, being an urban metro area is challenging because you're requiring folks to have a car, you're requiring them to have a car, and you're primarily not building enough capacity that will actually bring down housing costs. And so we're faced with this kind of conundrum, this puzzle that we're trying to figure out how to actually solve the problem without solving the problem. Because we've been faced with the criticism continuously that, well, government can just cut the waste. I want to be clear about what waste is for folks when you hear the words come from Tallahassee. When you have a government this big, the waste they're talking about is people. It's positioning services. So as we enter this budget season, when we say we're going to cut the waste, we're talking about eliminating positions. Now, that's going to either be the empty positions, as my colleague said, but we've done a lot of that already because we've been trying to we've been strapped for money for a while now. So we've done a lot of that. But there's some things we can't eliminate. There's some things that constitution that we're going to have to add some positions somewhere. We're going to have to do that. And so it's and another thing I would add is, you know, when they talk about the budget of Miami Dade County, a lot of times folks, they do it politically, you know, because they want to make it sound like it's something. But don't think about the seaport or the airport or water and sewer and garbage. Those are all proprietary funds. When you say we're going to cut the general fund, you're talking about those folks right there, those constitutionals, most of for the most part, the sheriff, you're talking about parks. You're talking about human services. So library. So I just want us to be clear about what it is, because it's not we can't take the money from everywhere. We have to cut very specific places. And so when you hear people talking about non essential government services, how we actually account for a lot of the seniors in this community that don't have what they need is through those non essential government services. That's what they are those programs that are heavily subsidized so so that children aren't on, you know, the streets getting into mischief right after school, but they're engaged in a program on a park. Those are non essential government services. The fact that we're paying, I don't know, what is it now, 89 cents out of every dollar for someone who takes transit in Miami Dade County. But we have more people who take transit in our county than there are in most of the counties in the state in the state. Just process that for a minute. More people ride our buses and our metro rail than most counties than a lot of counties actually have this residence every day. We pay 89 cents of the dollar every dollar because we understand that it helps our economy keep going. We also understand that if we stop doing that, if we stop doing that, they can't afford to pay the difference and everything stops. I do not necessarily blame the administration, the constitutionals, any of the CBOs who were managing to hold harmless. I guess in the proposed we're trying to do that. I don't blame anybody independently, but I do ask us to take account collectively. So sometimes when we face these ballot questions, everything that glitters ain't gold. And so we and we're going to face other ones. And I just want us to be conscious, intentional and deliberate when we make these decisions, because you're about to have to get the government that you're actually going to pay for. And so at some point, because they're doing a good job of of really, I mean, not to put too fine a point on this, curating the illusion that it's not going to hurt. But whether it's this year or next year, if it passes or the year after that, it's going to have to hurt at some point that 89 cents in transit has to come down. You're going to you're not raising you're not proposing it now. But at some point, if you want those buses to keep running after you eliminate the 30 bus routes this year to save the money, what are you going to do next year? Because you're not addressing more money in the system. The only way the system runs is if you supplement it more from the general fund or you raise the fee. That's it. That's that's it is literally that simple. And so we're playing the shell game now. Like we don't know what the problem is. We know what the problem is. We just don't want to say it because it's not popular. Government actually needs money to provide these services. We need money to pay those police officers. Yes, she's down officers right now, independent of the spots that she needs. She is down officers right now. She's deputies. They call them now deputies right now. Yes, our their pay needs to rate. Yes, because we have to be competitive. We have to go out and get people to be in law enforcement because we understand we have to have law enforcement because we have to have public safety. You need them doing that job. So we're going to have to we're going to have to do stuff for that. We are having a conversation about budgets, but really you're right. We're actually having a conversation about our values and whether we value the idea that if we put our money together, we can continue to build, maintain and grow a place that allows us to thrive and be happy as a community. Or in the alternative, we're going to keep on doing that thing where, you know what, my property taxes are high also and insurance is way too high, like way, way, way too high. And so I'm going to vote and be like, yeah, I need a break. And when I vote and I say I need a break, what I'm consciously saying is I don't want those programs on those parts of those kids. I don't care about those raises for those officers, the services that we provide for the seniors. They can do it themselves. It is it is problematic and we'll go through and we always find a way. We'll figure it out. We'll negotiate it around. We'll come up with a number and we'll be a little more strapped. And the next year, if the budget amendment passes, we'll be even more strapped. I just encourage the administration, all the constitutionals and everybody on this board. When we talk about this budget, we talk about their budgets. We talk about the tax millage rate. I want us to tell people the truth. Just tell them the truth. Eventually, we cut services and or we fire people. That is what will have to happen. And so he didn't say any of that. And I take issue with that. They said what they they needed. They didn't say any of that. They implied it. I want us to say it and hear it clearly so that when people make these decisions, they make a fully informed decision about the government they need to exist. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. You know, Commissioner Gilbert, the thing with everything you just said is that it it has this effect that it sort of triggers questions and emotions. And but I'm going to be restrained in my questions and and and new emotions that that have come up because you're right about almost not everything you just said. And and it's what I know myself and maybe some other colleagues on the days have been saying for months on several other topics that all come down to this very moment to the budget discussions. It was part of the discussions when we were discussing mental health facility was part of discussion when when, you know, I passed the item last we passed it. I may have sponsored it, but we passed the item to negotiate the CBAs in parallel with our budget. Because when you when you have these conversations outside of budget season, if you would call it, it's easy to start allocating funds here and allocating funds there. But when you have the conversations jointly together, parallel to each other, that's when you really are faced with, do we buy food or do we put gas in the car? But when you're having it separately, you're doing it all. And then you're you're putting it all on the credit card. And then before you know it, you're fighting for bankruptcy. And then before you know it worse, I mean, you can be homeless. I mean, the whole the whole thing. Right. So you've got to be responsible. But I'll restrain from actually going diving in to some of the topics. But thank you for that, Commissioner. Commissioner Gonzalez, you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And you know, I will restrain myself as well. I do concur with a lot of what you said, a lot of what has been said by many of my colleagues. And I think the tone of this commission for over a year and a half, you know, through the chair's leadership. I think that we have been stewarding along with my my fellow horsemen and and my fellow colleagues on this board. We've been stewarding on figuring out how we can get to the crux of difficult decisions that have to be made. And I have no doubt that we have not only what it takes, but we have the heart, the compassion and the fiscal stewardship to be able to get to this this year. So I'm not going to get too deep into my questions, but I do want to make some brief comments. You know, first with the supervisor of elections, thank you so much for your presentation. It was a great presentation. I look forward to sitting down with you and going through it. But it was a great presentation. Thank you so much for being so detailed. To the property appraiser, I don't see him in the crowd. But I just want to say that I appreciate how he has interpreted Florida Statute 193, specifically subsection 2. I concur. And I appreciate the fact that he's bringing a flat budget as well. To the comptroller, I truly, truly want to sit down as soon as possible. I really appreciate the detail in your presentation. I think that just what I would like to talk about is some of the overlap that I'm seeing. Where it just seems like we're not going to be able to have both. And I do understand what Ms. Galvez is saying. That it's probably difficult to recruit folks. And I'm just thinking that if there is an overlap, right? In order to not pay for the same thing, right? There are ways, I assume, that either some folks can be absorbed through your office, if necessary, obviously. And we can come to some sort of a consensus. So I'm looking forward to having those conversations in depth. Would really want to see exactly where it is that you're coming from. I know, Comptroller, we've had conversations sidebar. Would love to, you know, sit down and get to the crux of this. Because I think that there are going to be some difficult decisions that need to be made. But I have no doubt that we'll be able to get there. And then for public safety, we don't have to get into it now. I firmly appreciate how the Sheriff has said that a budget is a reflection of priorities. And I think that we have the greatest officers, deputies, on the planet. I mean, there are countries that come to this county, countries, military personnel from different countries that come train here. Because that's just the standard that we have. And so just one thing that I do want to emphasize, because this is going to be a difficult budget year, but we do need to set those priorities. We have 2.8 million residents in Miami-Dade County. We have about 3,000 sworn officers. Of those 3,000 sworn officers, that's about a 1.1 officer per thousand residents. That's way below the national average. So I do understand where the issue of not having enough officers is. And then I would imagine that the frustration of not being able to hire those officers, because we are among the lowest paid in the state of Florida, but perhaps the most demanding in the state of Florida, I can see where that needs to change. I firmly agree with Commissioner Gilbert in his assessment, deputies just need to make more money. And I think that there's also conversations that we can have privately, specifically with there's off-duty pay that doesn't come from the county that I think perhaps can help. Because I know Palm Beach sometimes is paying a lot more for off-duty than we are, and that can help as well. But I think, in essence, the conversation of where this budget is going to go is going to derive in making difficult decisions. But those difficult decisions, nonetheless, need to be made for the betterment and for the safety and for the future of the residents of Miami-Dade County. There will be things that we can't afford, and there will be things that we can't afford. And I think that every constitutional officer sitting here and the county and the administration understands that nobody, nobody deserves a blank check. I look forward to sitting down with each and every one of you, including the administration, and going through these requests one by one. So that we can come up with something that all the residents of Miami-Dade County, all the constitutional officers, and all the employees can be very proud of. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Lopez. I just want to close by saying, you know, we're the biggest donor county to the state of Florida, and we consistently don't get back what we deserve. And in addition to that, just to follow up on Commissioner Gonzalez's point on public safety, the sheriff went to Tallahassee and had several requests, and the governor vetoed them. I mean, she was left with almost no requests having been approved. It's extraordinary to me. And in addition to that, the county had some very, very important infrastructure funding that was also vetoed. So at some juncture, you know, we have to probably do a better job, and I'll certainly pledge and commit to continuing to go to Tallahassee to say, look, we are sending our money to you, and you're not sending it back. At a time when we have more people moving in, I mean, the legislature likes to say we have 1,000 people moving to Florida every day. It's pretty daunting. And yet many of them are coming here. So they're stressing our infrastructure. They're stressing our housing affordability. And yet we can't seem to get someone to understand that we deserve our legislative requests to be funded and not to be vetoed. So, you know, I felt very badly for the sheriff when I saw the veto list because I know she was just making, you know, what I thought were reasonable requests of which didn't get funded. I think we've got to do a better job also of lifting our voices, you know, because I agree with Commissioner Gilbert. Much of the challenges we're going to face have been created by Tallahassee as well with new demands, new mandates, some unfunded mandates. And yet sometimes people don't see those. And I think we have to do a better job this budget season to lay out for the public, for our residents, what's being demanded of us that's not being funded by the state. Because we don't have a choice on those. And I think just educating people may very well get to the point of Commissioner Gilbert's point, which is everyone wants relief. My seniors need relief. But it's going to impact in unfortunate ways public safety, you know, our constitutional officers, as well as our residents. And it's a message that's difficult to relay. But we have to start, we have to really start doing our job of educating everyone of what's happening this year and unfortunately what may be coming in the years to come. So thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner Lopez. And I had followed that veto list very closely, but I had, as you're saying, you know, all I'm thinking is, you know, on one end, and this is just what we deal with all the time, right, to Commissioner Gilbert's point, is at some point something has to give. And, you know, on one end, you have the governor advocating for lower or eliminating property taxes. But then on the other end, also vetoing public safety and law enforcement resources. So, you know, the state really puts us in a true bind, right, because I think we all agree that all these services, and of course, when you talk about public safety, it's just a very emotional one that gets us all and important and certainly a priority. But really, everyone that has spoken up here this morning, you know, has priorities. And so, yes, we are going to be challenged over the next couple of years. And to Commissioner Cohen-Higgins' question, I don't think, you know, and Chief Edwards answered it very eloquently, but the answer is, I don't know. No, of course, this budget does not take into account the future property tax cuts. Are we cutting back on things? Sure, to have a balanced budget this coming fiscal year. But no, I mean, we need a balanced budget. And so it's being balanced based on the current revenue. So the answer in plain English is no, we have not taken into account the future, right? And I think that's correct to say, I mean, are we being fiscally conservative, fiscally responsible? Are we trying to do the best we can with what we have? Yes. But no, future cuts are still, so this is still, there's still a lot more to come. And to some of all of your point, Commissioner Gilbert certainly is, you know, at some point after you finish eliminating parks programming and sort of what people would may argue are either social services or wants, then at some point you start eliminating bodies. You start eliminating humans. And that starts eliminating the way that people maintain themselves and their families. And then you start seeing poverty go up. And then you start seeing more homelessness. And it's a trickle effect downhill from there. So we've got to be very cognizant of that when we do discuss what's, what's in the horizon, because it is, it'll be on the ballot. And I understand they need a certain percentage for it to pass. But if they do, we're certainly going to be having a different conversation early next year. So with that, any other questions or comments regarding the budget? Seeing none. Mr. Attorney? Mr. Chair, a vote is needed on 6A, approval of the clerk's minutes. All right. It's been moved by Commissioner Lopez, seconded by Commissioner Cohen Higgins. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Sojourn. Thank you all very much for coming out and doing your presentations this morning. Thank you, guys.