Written by Miami Today on October 29, 2025
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START LABOR TALKS EARLY: With an eye on the fiscal clock, county commissioners last week directed Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to begin negotiations on all labor agreements that start next year by Jan. 31 at the latest. The resolution notes the major impact that labor agreements will have on the budget for the fiscal year that begins next Oct. 1 and that the mayor is required to submit a proposed budget to commissioner before July 15 each year. “Collective bargaining agreements can have a significant fiscal impact on the county’s budget over multiple years, and such impacts should be considered within the framework of the county’s budgetary process,” says the legislation sponsored by commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez. His legislation notes that the county is required to balance the budget and that labor negotiations should attempt to represent the views of the commission.
TRANSIT SAVINGS: New scheduling software that Miami-Dade commissioners approved last week without discussion is geared to save the county 5% of bus operating costs, cutting $14.8 million a year, and kick in by March. Software from GIRO Inc. of Montreal will save $866,330 a year just on annual costs versus the 16-year-old deal with a different provider that expires June 30, plus save more in operator attrition and as other contracts expire and the county brings outsourced operations back in house. Current scheduling software is outdated, “cumbersome, counter-intuitive and time-consuming,” said a memo from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. The system will tie in fixed-route buses, on-demand transit, Metrorail and Metromover.
ADDING LINKS ABROAD: Miami-Dade commissioners last week voted without discussion to target direct cargo and passenger air service between Miami International Airport and Tokyo, Singapore, Riyadh and Asuncion, Paraguay. The resolution asked Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to report in 60 days on progress and then to report quarterly on further developments. County aviation officials have long been in pursuit of these and other direct connections abroad.
NEW ICELAND AIR ROUTE: When Iceland Air flew its first scheduled flight from Miami to Reykjavik this week, Miami became the only Florida airport to offer nonstop flights to all five sovereign nations in Scandinavia and added Miami International Airport’s 18th European destination. The airline is to operate three nonstop flights weekly on the route until May 3, 2026.
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