Roadside landscaping crews will get fewer hours, leaving roadside grass to grow taller. A pair of tax-funded senior centers will close. And some Miami-Dade parks will lose lifeguards and adopt a “Swim at Your Own Risk” approach in the new era of austerity Mayor Daniella Levine Cava proposed Tuesday to close a $402 million budget gap.
Her $12.9 billion spending plan for 2026 ends five years of relatively flush spending in which federal COVID dollars flowed into the Miami area and real estate values boomed. With Washington and Tallahassee cutting back and home sales cooling off, Levine Cava is proposing a series of service reductions, layoffs and fee increases to balance the 2026 budget.
“We’ve been through some good times together, and now we face some challenges,” Levine Cava said in a morning press conference at County Hall in downtown Miami…