Commissioner Mike “Michael” Joseph, actually believes he’s going to single-handedly transform North Miami Beach into his own personal “progressive” paradise – by breaking the bank for the upcoming fiscal year. The long list of his unreasonable demands, combined with his sullen childishness when not getting his way, is quite simply disgraceful.
To get an idea just how ludicrous this freshman commissioner’s proposals are, let’s take a look at the City of North Miami’s Real-Time Debt Clock™ for some perspective.
As of today, North Miami’s ongoing budget deficit has grown to an irresponsible $7,830,969.95.
If Michael Joseph has anything to do with it, North Miami Beach won’t be far behind.
To aid in his preparation for the Fiscal Year 2020 Proposed Budget, City Manager Esmond Scott requested the Mayor and Commissioners to provide him with their proposed initiatives and ideas for special events, which we obtained by a public records request. They came up with the following:
- Mayor Anthony DeFillipo requested funding for a Big Brothers/Big Sisters program at a cost of $2,500.
- Vice Mayor Phyllis Smith requested that the FY 19 $9,750 budget for senior programs, including a Ms. Senior Florida Pageant, be continued, as well as sufficient funding for the Police Department.
- Commissioner Barbara Kramer asked for ZERO DOLLARS to be spent on new programs and events.
- Commissioner Fortuna Smukler asked for three more officers for community policing, a Fourth of July event, and additional resources for the library, but did not specify the costs.
- Commissioner Paule Villard was a bit more willing to spend taxpayer money, proposing seven new items, including “NMB Food & Music Festival,” totaling $41,750.
- Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond’s initiatives went even further in that he proposed spending nearly half a million dollars on special events, executive salary increases, as well as increases in travel and discretionary fund allowances.
- Commissioner Michael Joseph, on the other hand, presented a list of EIGHTEEN items totaling A STAGGERING ONE MILLION NINE HUNDRED SIXTY SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!
If Michael Joseph’s goal is to be more like North Miami, he’s certainly doing it right.
For example, for the 2020 fiscal year North Miami is budgeting an outrageous $1,758,246 for the care and feeding of five pampered and self-absorbed Mayor and Councilmembers, their now four full-time staff members and five part-time aides. This amount represents a 50.518% increase over last year’s $1,168,129. Salaries alone for the Mayor and Council’s office are being increased by $71,668 over last year and “outside wages” for part-timers by $74,700. It also includes $22,065 for overtime wages.
On the other hand, at less than one-third of North Miami elected officials’ budget, NMB’s proposed budget for its seven member Mayor and Commission is a reasonable $513,683, even though it includes an 18.618% increase over last year’s $433,056, and an increase in staffing from 0.3 positions to 1.5 positions.
Even though North Miami’s proposed problematic and completely unsustainable budget (which we will discuss in a future column), NMB Commissioner Michael Joseph would like nothing more than to adopt its fiscally irresponsible, deficit-inducing policies.
Although he’s been in office for only ten months, Michael has already traveled to Washington DC twice, greedily demanded a $22,000 raise, and now wants to increase the budget by nearly two million dollars on self-serving events and programs, most of which are designed to benefit his own child (a $50K toddler summer program) and his own campaign for re-election (a $30,000 citizen voter drive, $20,000 for a “free” citizenship event, and $300,000 for minority outreach marketing).
None of which has a public purpose or will benefit the residents of North Miami Beach … unless they enjoy watching their tax dollars being flushed down the toilet.
It is worth noting that a good many of Michael’s frivolous items on his “wish list” never even made it to the August 21, 2019 Budget Workshop, a measure that can only be credited to City Manager Esmond Scott who has the cojones to say no to whiny, petulant politicians and actually comply with the City Charter mandated commission-manager form of government … unlike North Miami’s Larry Spring, who caters to the Mayor and Council’s every extravagant wish.
It’s also worth noting that during the budget workshop Mayor DeFilippo, Vice Mayor Smith, and Councilmembers Kramer and Smukler, the four veteran elected officials who understand the concept of responding to demands of the residents and being fiscally responsible with their money, smacked down the rest of Michael’s more harebrained initiatives … unlike the North Miami Mayor and Council, who use taxpayer money as their personal party slush fund.
Because he didn’t get his way, Michael spent the entire three hour workshop walking off the dais for long stretches of time and, when he did manage to stay in his seat, sulking, playing with his phone and refusing to participate in the discussion.
While no Commissioner is more whiny and petulant than Michael Joseph, unfortunately he’s not the only one on the dais making unreasonable budgetary demands and irrational policy decisions. It seems that his fellow freshmen Commissioners Paule Villard and McKenzie Fleurimond are following his lead.
Considering that all three of them are first-time elected officials, we’d normally cut them some slack during the learning process. Sooner or later, most rookie commissioners eventually figure out that selfless public service usually comes at a great personal sacrifice, and is not intended to enrich their personal bank accounts.
Paule and McKenzie, however, appear to be emboldened by Michael’s childish and arrogant behavior to their own detriment. While they may not yet realize that his actions may result in ethical violations, they’d do well to heed this warning and stop going along for the ride.
Just saying.
North Miami Beach has seen its share of ignorant, incompetent, and corrupt politicians over the years. In the short time he’s occupied a seat on the Commission dais, Michael Joseph seems to be already headed for a prime spot on that infamous Wall of Shame.
Michael is also making political enemies at a breakneck pace previously unseen in the history of North Miami Beach, which should guarantee his “legacy” of being a one-term wonder.
Assuming he’s not removed from office before it ends.
Just saying.
Stephanie
It seems like the cancer of frivolous budgeting and the lack of caring what the end results will be has spread from the south to the north.
There’s very little chance that NMB will end up in dire financial straits like North Miami. Fortunately, Tony, Phyllis, Barbara and Fortuna were all residents and activists in NMB for decades, long before they ran for office. They have always been vigilant watchdogs (and vocal critics) of the city budgets, and have always looked out for the best interests of their fellow residents. I’m very confident in their ability to be fiscally responsible.
North Miami, on the other hand, is not so lucky. There’s very little hope that anything will improve under the current leadership and their administration. It’s a shame because North Miami residents deserve so much better.
Self serving with no sense of true public service or truly doing what is best for all. It is kind of like a parent
running up massive debt that their children will be left to pay off or deal with, and having no remorse for
doing it.
From a little further south than you think….
Am I the only one seeing the relationship between being haitian and breaking the bank?
I don’t think that’s necessarily the case, especially in this instance. For example, former North Miami mayoral candidate Mac-kinley Lauriston is a Haitian American, who was a financial analyst for a Fortune 500 company for 17 years before leaving the private sector. Unlike the new mayor, whose claim to fame is a string of failed businesses, two foreclosures, a bankruptcy, and over $100K of federal tax liens and judgments hanging over his head. He has absolutely no business sense whatsoever as evidenced by his moronic public statement that “Events have nothing to do with fiscal responsibility.”
Another successful Haitian American is North Miami former Council candidate Michael Etienne, who not only is a lawyer, but has done very well by making some sound investments. He would have been a great asset to the city had he won. Instead, voters chose his opponent, who is so ignorant of finances that she ran her own business into the ground and also lost a house in foreclosure.
As you can see, being Haitian has nothing to do with fiscal irresponsibility. Being dumb as a box of rocks, on the other hand, has everything to do with it.
While Michael Joseph isn’t stupid, his ignorance about how city budgets work can be chalked up to his blind political ambition and lack of maturity.
Thank you ma’am. Thank you.
In this entire article, you fail to enumerate specifically what Mr. Joseph wants to spend all this money on, other than a few cherry-picked examples seemingly chosen to support your point. I personally don’t know what it all would be for, but by not providing the details you make me suspect you have a poor argument. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but again, details!
As a voter and nmb taxpayer I think we need to be spending a lot more money on meaningful progressive policies that ensure affordable housing, expand a real sewer system to all of nmb, and begin a transition towards carbon neutrality in the next decade by investing in solar, changing our building codes to require carbon neutrality and electric vehicle charging stations at all businesses and apartment buildings, and towards many other pro-social progressive ends. Are Mr. Joseph’s programs in line with what I want? I have no idea from your article, all I know is you don’t want me to support him.
Feel free to click the link to see all of Michael Joseph’s proposals, some of which were included in the budget. For transparency purposes, I always post links to all public records I receive so readers can be apprised of all the facts. As you know, I write my opinion based on the facts I gather. For the purpose of this blog I focused solely on Michael’s proposals that have no business being included in a municipal budget. I am also of the opinion that some of your ideas are not the responsibility for local government to undertake, but you are of course entitled to your opinion.
You are free to support, or not, any candidate of your choosing. Your choices are none of my business.
That being said, I will continue to voice my opinion in the hopes that some people will agree and support the candidates of my choice.
You may choose to agree with me, or not. It’s still a free country.
Ms/Mrs K
I just had some coffee after viewing Mr Joseph’s pictures from the meeting. That’s why I do when in shock or disbelief. I need to be mentally prepared to see his elaborate proposal. Please allow me a few days.
Thank you and thanks for reading my blog.
Another unfunded Progressive solution proposed by a Progressive who has no clue as to where the funds will come from to pay for his proposal. Charging stations city-wide, the cost of installing sewers city-wide, and the ongoing huge increase in everyone’s utility bill to pay for the sewerage disposal. Currently most of NMB is on septic tanks that break-down every homeowners waste output. Nature does the job as it has for hundreds of years. What could be more carbon-neutral or “green” than that? Pumping sewage requires carbon-fuels to power the pumping and sewage treatment plants thus taking away from your carbon-free Nirvana. You may want to tell your free-spending Progressive buddies on the commission to pare back their free stuff give-aways and devote more funds to lowering our excessive water bills.
You just did.
And thanks!!
So this article is to bash our 3 new commissioners and praise the others? If the others have been around so long, our current issue is related to them. I see a problem with them working together which is not beneficial for NMB when the commissioners are not on the same page working together for the residents. We may need to clean house if this continues. Can you add articles like this to show how all commissioners are lacking? I would like to see deliverables promised completed and a list on how that was done by each commissioner not just what they are not doing. Good to know who is contributing negatively, but also would like to know who is not contributing at all (waste of a salary) and who is doing a good job (and how).
If you read the blog, you’d see that I did not “bash” the three new commissioners. In fact, I am giving Paule and McKenzie the benefit of the doubt precisely because they are new to the table. Time will tell if they mature into genuine selfless public servants, or merely become aspiring career politicians.
If the commissioners have a problem working together, it’s because there are seven very strong personalities on the dais, all of whom have their own ideas of what they believe is in the best interests of the city.
Or, in Michael Joseph’s case, the best interests of his political career.
As far as the records of the veteran commissioners, it’s obvious that you have not been an active participant in your local government for very long (or even a reader of this blog) or you would be very familiar with what they have already delivered to the residents of North Miami Beach.
I may not have always agreed with some of them, but I have personally known all of them for years, some of them decades, during the 25 years I lived in and participated in the government of North Miami Beach. I also know for a fact that each and every one of them are committed to serving the residents of NMB. I don’t have to agree with their legislation to know that.
You might want to consider doing what I did as an NMB resident – attend meetings for a while, study the budgets and legislation being proposed, and serve on one or more of the many city boards. Then you’ll begin to get an idea who the elected officials are, what they believe in, and how NMB government actually works.
Just a suggestion, of course.
I guess you mean that we should do our own homework. So I did…
Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond was a commissioner years ago. He’s not exactly new.
There are only 2 new commissioners with no past commissioner experience and it so happens that both have been targets of your “opinion” and no one else. Commissioners Paule Villard and Michael Joseph.
For a city with a history of public corruption, I’m suspicious of all the commissioners who were part of this history, not the new ones.
McKenzie was appointed (not elected) to fill the seat and finish the remaining six months of the term of then-Councilman John Patrick Julien who stepped down to run for State Representative. He was gone before the seat was barely warm, and lost his bid for election to Marlen Martell. Hence, McKenzie, Paule and Michael are all first-time elected officials.
Unless you read something that I didn’t write, McKenzie was not a “target” of my opinion.
I do, however, have a history with both Paule and Michael, which I have written about extensively. Paule ran unsuccessfully against Marlen Martell during her bid for re-election several years ago, and in the process she aligned herself with the now-arrested and removed from office Frantz Pierre. I firmly believe that you are judged by the company you keep. While I am clearly trying to give her the benefit of the doubt this time around, she appears to be aligning herself with Michael on some of his more controversial issues. Paule was also not a “target” of my opinion in this blog. Hopefully, she will do right by the residents and stay out of trouble.
If you read my previous blog, you would have also learned that I have known and supported Michael since 2012 when he first ran for State Representative. He was most definitely a “target” of my extremely well informed opinion of him since I know exactly who he is and why is he now doing what he’s doing.
If you have been a long-time reader of this blog, you would also know that I have written extensively about the rest of the elected officials, both good and bad. You would also know that Phyllis has the “honor” of being the prime “target” of my opinion since this blog began in 2010. You would also know that I’ve given her credit for everything she’s done right because VotersOpinion is an equal opportunity critic.
I do know that Tony, Phyllis, Barbara and Fortuna are not in any way connected with the “history of public corruption” that you mentioned.
I believe I responded to all your concerns. If not, please feel free to write back.
Dear “Jose,”
You attempted to post two new comments which will not be approved for publication, and the content of which will not be repeated here.
When I tried to contact you by email, it was returned as a non-valid address.
Obviously you are merely an internet troll attempting to start an argument (much like former NMPD commander Joey Kissel has done for years), but I am not interested in your games.
If you want to argue with someone and spread false rumors, start your own blog.
Bye, Felicia!
I come from the islands over 20 years ago and purchased a home in NMB. I have been content with the services the city provides and and concerned about 3 of the 4 newly elected commissioners who look at being elected in NMB as if they were being elected in Haiti. They seem to think that in their elected positions they are empowered to spend our tax money on anything they feel will make people feel good about them. I watched on TV the list of things they wanted a spend our money on and was shocked at the number and the cost. As a homeowner, all I want from them is to lower my expensive water bill and lower my ever increasing property taxes. I know they can’t do anything about my homeowner insurance but I wish they would take that million dollars they want to spend riding on parade floats or giving away free turkeys and just lower my cost of living in NMB. My neighbors and me don’t need the frivilous stuff.
Thank you so much for commenting. I agree with you 100%, which was the entire point of my blog.
But the elected council can do something about not only your homeowners but also your flood insurance. The money that they are spending unwisely for their own personnel wants or desires should be spent on employees and projects that would lower the City’s CRS and ISO ratings and the insurance that you pay out of your pocket would go down. A one point decrease in the rating can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in lowering of homeowners bills. But the uneducated politician does not understand the concept.
Do not confuse them with the facts they have already made up their minds.
Stephanie can you explain why our city commissioners have to go to Washington DC on our dime? I thought that was the job of our elected congresspeople. to handle Washington affairs. How does their two trips to Washington benefit us? Did they bring us back a large federal grant?
I have no idea why they went. Your guess is as good as mine. If you find out let me know.
I find your comment very uncomfortable, and distasteful. You can talk about the person views not theirs Nationality. Please think before you post.
I never mentioned Michael’s (or anyone else’s) nationality. Were you talking to me?
Dear Ms. Mema I agree with you that nationality should not be an issue in government. Keeping that in mind, the City of North Miami Beach should not be funding Haitian, Hispanic, or any other nationality’s festivals, parades, or anything else that is ethic oriented. We are one city in the United States where all residents are equal. If a person is proud of their heritage they can reach into their own pocket and fund whatever event they want. They should not be looking to the city to fund them, something several of our recently elected commissioners apparently don’t agree with.
ATTENTION:
NMB VOTERS, HOME/BUSINESS OWNERS, RENTERS {aka;}
“ALL CONCERNED North Miami Beach RESIDENTS” MUST ATTEND NMB’s ..Public Budget Hearing (1) Tonight**
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
THESE PEOPLE WORK FOR YOU..
” REMIND THEM TONIGHT! “
Public Budget Hearing (1)
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Council Chambers 2nd Floor
Starting, 5:01 pm