See below for a full list of press releases by FIU's Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center.
Recent Releases
- FIU Releases Study of Local County Budgets as Local Governments Enter Difficult Budget Season
In the five years since the Covid pandemic, the size of county government in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties far outpaced the growth of inflation and of each county’s population.
Such are among the findings of research conducted by Florida International University’s Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center, which analyzed the budgets of the three counties for fiscal years 2019-2020 through 2024-2025.
“As our local governments begin to debate the upcoming year’s budgets, with many counties and municipalities facing revenue shortfalls, we thought it was important to analyze how their financial picture has changed during the last few years,” says Howard Frank, Director of the Metropolitan Center and author of numerous papers and studies on local-government budgeting.
Where did all the additional money go?
In Miami-Dade County, which is facing a $400 million deficit in 2026, the biggest budgetary dollar increases since the pandemic have gone to Fire & Rescue, Water & Sewer, Transportation & Public Works, and Non-Departmental budgets. The largest increases in terms of percentage went to the Miami-Dade Advocacy Trust, Public Housing & Community Development, the Office of the Mayor, and the Board of County Commissioners.
Of the three counties, Palm Beach County experienced the biggest percentage gain in the overall size of its operating budget, which grew more than 79 percent to almost $7.9 billion in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The analysis looked at both the operating budgets, which cover the cost of daily routine government operations, as well as at each county’s capital budget, which pays for special projects.In addition, at a time when Tallahassee is talking about eliminating or restructuring the property taxes that contribute to the operating revenues of many local governments, the study also looked at how much each county relies on property taxes. The analysis showed that Palm Beach County has slightly reduced its financial dependence on property taxes, while Miami-Dade County’s reliance on property taxes has slightly increased.
“This research is a preliminary look at the finances and operations of our local governments,” said Dr. Frank. “As we identify sponsors and financial support for our research, we hope to increase the public’s understanding of how their local governments are managed.”
For more information
If you have any questions, please contact:
Howard Frank
Director
howard.frank@fiu.edu
305-348-0410.