Hialeah workers get bonuses, residents left without relief

City of Hialeah Interim Mayor Jacqueline Garcia-Roves talks about her challenges as Mayor, during an interview with El Nuevo Herald reporter Verónica Egui, at city hall, on Thursday, September 11, 2025.

Hialeah Mayor Jacqueline Garcia-Roves talks about her challenges in office on Sept. 11, 2025.

Pedro Portal

pportal@miamiherald.com

In a decision that will cost the municipal budget more than $278,000, the Hialeah City Council on Tuesday approved Christmas bonuses for full- and part-time city employees earning $50,000 or less — a scaled-down plan far less costly than the bonus initially promised by interim Mayor Jacqueline Garcia-Roves.

Council members debated which employees should qualify for the incentive, whether to include only full-time staff, part-time or all employees, as Garcia-Roves had initially proposed in a Nov. 18 memo announcing a $1,000 bonus for all city employees, which she issued without first consulting the council. That plan would have cost roughly $1.5 million.

A former Hialeah city attorney told the Miami Herald at the time that Garcia-Roves could not authorize such a payment on her own, leaving elected officials to find a more feasible alternative.

The city has 1,492 budgeted employees. According to Budget and Finance Director Pedro De Faria, 908 earn less than $80,000, and 459 earn $50,000 or less. After a lengthy discussion over salary ranges, newly elected Councilwoman Melinda De La Vega proposed a compromise that broke the deadlock: 181 full-time employees and 278 part-time employees — all earning $50,000 or less — would receive bonuses of $1,000 and $350, respectively.

Recently reelected council members Luis Rodriguez and Carl Zogby, the strongest allies of mayor-elect Bryan Calvo, who must wait until Jan. 12 to be sworn in, initially opposed the bonuses. However, the council ultimately approved the measure unanimously, voting 5-0 as part of a broader set of budget amendments. It is not yet clear when the administration will distribute the payment to city employees.

Weeks earlier, the council failed to approve a proposed $200 homeowner-relief payment, despite months of campaigning in which candidates had promised aid to residents struggling with the high cost of living. The plan would have provided a one-time rebate to homesteaded property owners, with a total projected cost of roughly $6.4 million. Opponents argued that the benefit was too small relative to the cost and warned that funding it would have required delaying or cutting planned city projects, including park upgrades, street improvements and other infrastructure investments. Supporters countered that even a modest payment could provide meaningful assistance to residents facing rising living costs.

De La Vega told the Herald that her intention was to give some incentive to city employees after Garcia-Roves promised a bonus. Asked about the homeowner relief, she said she was one of the council members pushing for aid to residents but did not have the support of her colleagues. Rodriguez was among those who voted against the relief after he was reelected.

Tuesday’s meeting marked a major transition for Hialeah city leadership, as it was the final session for Councilman Jesus Tundidor, whose resignation takes effect when the new mayor is sworn in, and the last meeting for interim Mayor Garcia-Roves. With leadership in flux, the council approved the scaled-down Christmas bonus for city employees, ensuring holiday pay for the lowest-paid workers, but the earlier rejection of homeowner relief highlights how political tensions during the election period affected residents more than city employees, raising questions about fiscal priorities and governance during municipal transitions.

Hialeah workers get bonuses, residents left without relief

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