Get out the popcorn!

On Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at 6:00 PM, the North Miami Mayor and Council will meet for the second reading of the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget.

As hard as it is to believe, the final draft of the budget is even worse than the Preliminary Annual Budget that City Manager Larry Spring presented at the July 10, 2019 Budget Workshop.

Spring initially increased the Mayor and Council budget by 30.328% from last year’s $1,168,129 to an astronomical $1,522,405, or an increase of $354,275.

By the time the first budget reading was held two months later on September 9, 2019, the greedy Mayor and Council forced Larry Spring to increase their already inflated budget by $590,117.

As we reported in our previous blog, North Miami is now 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.

Let’s take a close look at what this budget includes.

The Mayor and Council have given themselves and their four full-time employees yet another round of generous annual raises.  This year’s increase amounts to a total of $71,668 over last year’s 2019 budget, which which was already a 46.087% increase over the previous year.

Raise your hand if your salary increases by 50% every year.

Anyone?

We have absolutely no idea what the salary is for each of the elected officials since page 12 of Larry Spring’s budget only lists a total for all nine of the department’s employees in the summary.

Interestingly, on pages 13 and 14, where he lists the line item breakdown for each of the Mayor and four Councilmember seats, there are no individual salaries listed.

It’s almost as if they’re trying to hide what each of the elected officials are actually making.

Those salaries, however, don’t even include the total cost of their high maintenance lifestyles.

North Miami taxpayers are also footing the bill for the combined totals of: $46,174 for Social Security contributions, $37,495 for health insurance, $30,000 for travel expenses, $6,270 for the Mayor’s membership dues, and $161,240 for “miscellaneous expenses.”

You know, the “miscellaneous expenses” that they can’t possibly afford on their “poverty-level” salaries.

But that’s not the worst of it.

The minute the elected officials are sworn into office, the City of North Miami taxpayers begin to contribute handsomely to their retirement plan with the Florida Retirement System (FRS).

Which is really curious indeed, because the FRS explicitly states, “You will be eligible for a Pension Plan benefit (i.e. be vested) when you complete six years of service.”

Not all North Miami elected officials complete six years of service, so we can’t help but wonder two things:  (1)  Why does the city even make a contribution before the official completes six years of service?  (2) What happens to the contributed money if they don’t get re-elected?  Do the taxpayers get a refund?

If anyone knows the answers to these questions, please fill us in.

In any event, the FY 2020 budget includes an FRS contribution on behalf of the elected officials equal to 48.7% of their salaries for a total amount of $152,084.

Raise your hand if you have an employer that contributes 48.7% of your salary to a pension plan.

Anyone?

The Mayor and Council’s four full-time employees are also benefiting from the “generosity” of their bosses (with taxpayer money).  They also receive generous salaries, health insurance, Social Security contributions, and pension insurance.

And once again, we have no idea what each of them are actually making, or what their individual contributions are.

The five part-timers (outside wages) are also cleaning up on taxpayer dime, earning a combined total of $467,370.

Although that figure makes absolutely no sense because that would mean they are earning an average of $93,474 each – even more than what we’re guessing the Mayor is earning.

Once again, if anyone knows the answer to this enigma, please fill us in.

We are, however, old enough to remember that time in July when a Coalition of the eight North Miami Homeowners Associations sent a letter to the Mayor and Council demanding the “immediate elimination of discretionary funding” that the City Manager included in his preliminary budget in the amount of $225,000 for North Miami’s five elected officials.

Not only did Larry Spring not eliminate that funding, but he further screwed the taxpayers by upping the discretionary fund to a whopping $300,000!  (CORRECTION: $370,000.00!)

And they didn’t even get kissed.

The office of the Mayor and Council is not the only city department that’s causing raised eyebrows.

As we previously reported in Larry Spring’s Magical Mystery Budget, Part 2, on page 80 of the proposed budget under Non-Departmental expenditures, there is a line item expense of $95,000 for the “Miss North Miami Scholarship Pageant.”

Only, no such pageant exists.

In response to our public records request for all invoices associated with this expense, we were advised, “Attached please find invoices associated to the Miss North Miami Scholarship Pageant 810 account.  However, please note the title of this account was changed to “Civic Engagement Grants”.

Whatever that means.

Imagine our surprise when we opened the file to find four invoices from the Greater North Miami Chamber of Commerce each in the amount of $18,750, and one from the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce in the amount of $20,000.

It appears that North Miami taxpayers are subsidizing its Chamber of Commerce to the tune of $75,000 a year, whose mission is “to serve the businesses of our region by connecting them to area residents, visitors and other businesses, supporting and enhancing both our vibrant local economy and our​ outstanding quality of life.”

Yet for some odd reason, it’s also still spotlighting the iconic North Miami Beach development Marina Palms on its landing page.

In case you’re wondering, the City of North Miami Beach only contributes $12,000 a year to its Chamber of Commerce, which apparently doesn’t feel compelled to give Marina Palms free advertising.

The Haitian American Chamber of Commerce claims that it “serves as the advocate for the community as well as resource for consumers and business dedicated to serving both the needs of our members and the economic development needs of the broader Haitian Community.”

We’re still not sure why North Miami taxpayers have to subsidize two different Chambers, but that’s just us.

In any event, the line item for this expenditure was not changed to “Civic Engagement Grants,” and is still listed as the “Miss North Miami Scholarship Pageant” on the FY 2020 Proposed Budget.

With a budget of $3,180,991 (an increase of $213,449 over last year), the least City Manager Larry Spring could have done was fix that error in time for the second budget reading.

And just in case you’re wondering, North Miami Beach City Manager Esmond Scott has budgeted $1,573,776 for his office, which is less than half of Spring’s budget, and he still manages not to make stupid mistakes.

We also previously expressed our concern that the budget for North Miami’s Community Planning and Development (CP&D) increased by more than $2.68 million.  While Larry Spring did cut that increase back to $2.53 million, at $3,569,763, it’s still a big chunk of the budget.

To put this into perspective, this amount is more than five times the budget for NMB’s Planning & Zoning Department (the equivalent of NM’s CP&D), which is only $748,322.

By the same token, North Miami Beach’s Code Compliance department will receive a budget of $607,877 to do the exact same job that its counterpart in North Miami does at nearly ten times the cost – or $5,681,662.

And finally, despite outcries from the residents who are are actually funding this outlandish budget, City Manager Larry Spring is still going full speed ahead with a Special Events budget of $700,000, not including “$200,000 of Police overtime.”

It also does not include overtime pay for all the city employees to work those events, which has not been calculated as far as we can determine.

Then again, this is perfectly fine if you believe the words of North Miami’s intellectually-challenged mayor, Philippe Bien-Aime who said, “Events have nothing to do with fiscal responsibility.”

As we mentioned in a previous blog, Larry Spring simply does not have the cojones to stand up to the Mayor and Council and run the city in a fiscally responsible manner.  He’s too afraid of losing his job.  When they say “Jump!”, he say’s “How high?”

The five members of the Mayor and Council are also desperately trying to convince everyone who will listen that they couldn’t possibly do their harrowing jobs for even a penny less than $1,758,246.

As the North Miami Beach City Manager has already proven, they’re LYING!

At way less than one-third the budget, NMB’s seven commissioners are somehow able to run an entire city without needing a full-time staff of four and a part-time assistant for each of them.

Plus, each of NMB’s commissioners are “at large,” which means all seven of them answer to every single one of NMB’s 45,612 residents.

Yet for some reason, North Miami’s five spoiled and pampered elected officials need their hands held by an entire staff in order to respond to the residents in each of their individual districts.

It’s impossible to comprehend that all of this extravagant and unsustainable spending is included in a budget that’s already carrying forward an $8 million deficit from last year.

If the Mayor and Council can waste all this taxpayer money like it belongs to them, just imagine what would have happened if the $120 MILLION failed GO Bond had passed!

Thank God for small miracles, right?

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!

If you care anything at all about the state of your city, plan to attend the Budget Hearing on Tuesday night and tell your representatives to STOP THE INSANITY!

North Miami residents deserve better.

Stephanie