{"id":401059,"date":"2026-09-16T02:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T02:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401059\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T02:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T02:04:08","slug":"north-miami-council-approves-238-9-million-budget-keeps-7-4-millage-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401059\/","title":{"rendered":"North Miami council approves $238.9 million budget, keeps 7.4 millage rate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">NORTH MIAMI, Fla.  \u2014 During the last budget meeting on Tuesday in North Miami, Becky Jones told the city\u2019s council that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northmiamifl.gov\/236\/Friends-of-the-Library\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.northmiamifl.gov\/236\/Friends-of-the-Library\">Friends of the North Miami Library<\/a>\u2019s request to help teens had been ignored. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Jones, the president of the nonprofit advocacy organization, said she and other members had been requesting that the city hire a full-time library specialist. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe have so many teens coming into the library every day that we really need a person just to handle the load of students,\u201d Jones told council members. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The council of Miami-Dade County\u2019s sixth-largest city voted unanimously to approve the proposed $238.9 million budget \u2014 without addressing Jones\u2019s request. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI do see the need for additional help,\u201d Kassandra Timothe, the vice mayor, said about the job opening at the library. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The city council\u2019s vote to keep the 7.4 millage rate, which has remained flat since 2022, was also unanimous during the final budget meeting. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Councilman Kevin A. Burns, a former mayor who represents the city\u2019s District 1, said he disapproved of the long list of \u201coverpriced\u201d special events included in the budget.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe have such other crucial needs out there,\u201d Burns said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The budget authorized 18 new full-time and 22 new part-time positions, but not the library job Jones asked for. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe are going to look mid-year to see if we can add someone part-time,\u201d Theresa Therilus, the city manager, told the council about the compromise on a job opening at the library. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Councilman Pierre Frantz Charles thanked Therilus and her team for the \u201cbalanced\u201d budget, which included a combined 5% merit and cost-of-living adjustment for PBA employees and 3% for general employees. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Deborah Davis, a resident, said she was grateful for the city\u2019s support of the Museum of Contemporary Art. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI think it\u2019s a real star that puts North Miami on the map,\u201d Davis said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The budget\u2019s major investments included $5.96 million for water and sewer improvements; $2.65 million for the Building Inspections facility; $1.52 million for sidewalks and roadway resurfacing; $1.27 million for parks and recreation improvements; $1.14 million for priority stormwater projects; and $591,000 for general government facility improvements. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Alix Desulme, the city\u2019s mayor; Councilwoman Mary Estim\u00e9-Irvin; and Timothe have been campaigning for re-election on Nov. 3. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Desulme is running against George Morgan. Timothe is running against Brian Jinks. Estim\u00e9-Irvin, who represents District 3, is running against Joban Jules and Carolina Matamoros. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Related document: <a href=\"https:\/\/northmiamifl.gov\/DocumentCenter\/View\/23799\/FY-2026-2027---Proposed-Budget-PDF\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/northmiamifl.gov\/DocumentCenter\/View\/23799\/FY-2026-2027---Proposed-Budget-PDF\">Here is the 369-page proposed budget<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Watch the meeting<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Related reports<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORTH MIAMI, Fla. \u2014 During the last budget meeting on Tuesday in North Miami, Becky Jones told the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-401059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}