![\"during](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MIA_9_250docs6-17-26MXF.JPG\" "\\"Miami-Dade")
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Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava plans to unveil her 2027 budget proposal on July 15, 2026. She said recently it will not include cuts to charity grants or higher transit fares.<\/p>\n
Photo by Marra X. Finkelstein<\/p>\n
mfinkelstein@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
Facing another challenging budget year<\/a>, Miami-Dade\u2019s mayor this week revealed she won\u2019t be diverting money from charity and arts grants or raising new revenue by making drivers pay more for gas or transit passengers pay more for rides.<\/p>\n Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a town hall Monday night that her 2027 budget proposal contains \u201cserious belt tightening\u201d but that she won\u2019t be calling for the nonprofit grant cuts that were one of last year\u2019s top budget controversies<\/a> before the mayor retreated on that $40 million austerity measure. Still, the mayor, who has vowed not to propose property tax increases, offered no hint at where the cuts will come.<\/p>\n Levine Cava confirmed to the Miami Herald after the event that her budget proposal would maintain the current level of funding for county-funded charities \u2014 known as community-based organizations, or CBOS in county parlance \u2014 and for existing arts grants, which were also subject to cuts in last year\u2019s budget plan before the mayor dropped that plan, too.<\/p>\n In taking arts and charity cuts off the table, Levine Cava has narrowed her options for closing what this year\u2019s forecast projects as a $173 million revenue gap for the 2027 budget year, which begins Oct. 1. That figure has likely grown in the months after her administration released the projection in December, with Levine Cava calling 2027 \u201ca very challenging year.\u201d<\/p>\n The county isn\u2019t making as much money off property taxes as it expected to, and the federal COVID aid dollars that boosted Miami-Dade\u2019s coffers at the start of Levine Cava\u2019s first term are all but gone.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re presenting you a balanced budget,\u201d she said of the 2027 plan that will be unveiled next week, \u201cbut one that does include some serious belt tightening.\u201d<\/p>\n Levine Cava did say she asked departments that are funded by property taxes \u2014 a category that includes Parks and Animal Services \u2014 to cap their spending increases at 3%, despite the fact that maintaining existing service and staffing levels would require about 8% more money.<\/p>\n She also said that her 2027 budget won\u2019t try to raise money from transit riders or car owners \u2014 another change from last year\u2019s budget proposal.<\/p>\n In the 2026 budget, commissioners rejected Levine Cava\u2019s request<\/a> for a 50-cent increase in transit fares \u2014 from $2.25 to $2.75. On Monday, the mayor said fares are flat in the 2027 transit budget.<\/p>\n