Miami’s Billion-Dollar Boom, Part 1: Where Did All the Money Go?

As commissioners prepare to consider another record budget — and voters face a $450 million public-safety bond in November — an analysis of city financial records finds Miami’s property-tax collections have soared over the past decade, rising sharply even after accounting for inflation and population growth.

Ten years ago, the City of Miami expected to collect about $304 million in property taxes.

Next year, under Mayor Eileen Higgins’ proposed 2026-27 budget, it expects to collect nearly $691 million — more from property taxes alone than the city’s entire General Fund budget a decade ago.

Some of that growth can be explained by inflation and a growing city. But not nearly all of it.

Even after accounting for inflation, Miami is poised to collect roughly 67% more in property taxes than it budgeted a decade ago. And the city’s population has grown far more slowly — about 6% since 2017, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Adjusted for both inflation and population growth, Miami’s proposed property-tax collections amount to roughly 58% more per resident than a decade ago.

The growth has substantially changed the finances of City Hall and comes as commissioners prepare for budget hearings next week and on Sept. 24, when they will consider Higgins’ proposed spending plan.

In 2016, taxable property within Miami was valued at about $44.6 billion. This year, it is valued at more than $110 billion — an increase of roughly 147%, according to city budget documents.

And the city didn’t need to raise its operating property-tax rate to reap the benefits.

The rate has actually fallen by about 7% over the past decade, from 7.6465 mills in the budget adopted for the 2016-17 fiscal year to 7.1080 mills in the proposed 2026-27 budget.

Yet the city now expects to collect roughly $387 million more in property taxes annually than it did a decade ago — an increase of about 128% before adjusting for inflation.

The money helped finance a substantial expansion in city spending.

Miami’s General Fund, its principal account for funding city operations, has grown from $670.2 million in 2016-17 to a proposed $1.298 billion next year — an increase of nearly $628 million, or 94%, that has turned City Hall into a billion-dollar-a-year operation.

Inflation accounts for a significant portion of that increase. Adjusted for inflation, the city’s $670.2 million General Fund a decade ago would equal roughly $913 million today, leaving an increase of about 42% in real dollars.

Population growth narrows the difference further, but it remains substantial. Miami’s population increased from an estimated 463,347 in 2017 to 489,812 in 2025, the latest Census Bureau estimate available — growth of only about 5.7%.

Put the two adjustments together and Miami’s proposed General Fund amounts to roughly 34% more per resident in inflation-adjusted dollars than a decade ago.

Those numbers provide important context as Miami commissioners prepare for the two September budget hearings, at which they will decide how much taxpayers should contribute to run City Hall for another year.

Voters will face a separate financial question in November.

Despite the enormous increase in resources available to City Hall during Miami’s real estate boom, city officials say decades of deferred maintenance have left police and fire facilities in such poor condition that voters must authorize up to $450 million in new borrowing to replace and repair them.

With interest and issuance costs, city officials estimate the borrowing could ultimately cost taxpayers about $795 million.

Read more: Commission Sends $450 Million Public Safety Bond to November Ballot

The juxtaposition raises a fundamental question: After a decade in which Miami’s booming real estate market delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in additional annual revenue to City Hall, where did the money go?

Property taxes aren’t the only reason Miami has more money to spend. Virtually every major source of General Fund revenue has grown over the past decade, city records show.

Franchise fees and other taxes increased from about $106.5 million to $170.6 million. Charges for services rose from about $110.5 million to $162.7 million. Intergovernmental revenue increased from roughly $65.9 million to $113.4 million.

Licenses and permits — a revenue source tied partly to Miami’s construction and development boom — nearly doubled, from about $57 million to $112.3 million.

But property taxes have become increasingly important to City Hall’s finances. They accounted for about 45% of General Fund revenue in the 2016-17 budget. In the proposed budget now before commissioners, they account for 53.2%.

And the growth continues.

The proposed budget anticipates another $43.3 million increase in property-tax collections in the coming year, a 6.7% jump over the current budget, as the city’s tax roll grew another 6.2% this year.

The additional revenue did not produce a comparable buildup in the city’s bank account. Most of it was spent. But the number of people working for the city did not grow at anything close to the same rate as the budget.

According to 2016 budget documents, the city employed 4,179 full-time-equivalent workers a decade ago. By 2025, that had risen to 4,710, an increase of nearly 13%. Higgins’ proposed 2026-27 budget would add another 173 positions, bringing the total to 4,883 — nearly 17% more than a decade ago.

By comparison, General Fund spending has grown by roughly 94% since 2016-17, according to a Spotlight analysis of city records.

Even public safety — by far the city’s largest operating expense — did not experience anything approaching that growth in staffing. The number of public-safety employees increased from 2,548 in 2016 to 2,746 in 2025, or about 8%, according to the city’s annual financial report.

So what accounts for the difference?

The city’s own records point to one major factor: The cost of employing Miami’s workforce has risen substantially.

In fiscal 2025, Miami spent nearly $1.09 billion from its General Fund. About $641 million — nearly 59% — went to public safety, including approximately $380 million for police and $248 million for fire-rescue. The city attributed rising General Fund expenditures primarily to increases in retirement contributions and other payroll-related costs.

Not all of the additional revenue was consumed. Miami ended fiscal 2025 with a General Fund balance of about $237 million, an increase of $19.5 million from the previous year. About $101 million was classified as unassigned reserves, according to the city’s financial report.

But the decade of extraordinary revenue growth has not left Miami free of substantial long-term financial obligations.

At the end of fiscal 2025, the city reported approximately $1.45 billion in net pension liabilities, $1.09 billion in obligations for retiree health and other post-employment benefits and $1.07 billion in outstanding bonds, notes and loans. Its government-wide financial statements showed an overall net-position deficit of about $954 million.

Those figures include long-term liabilities paid over many years and do not suggest Miami is insolvent; the city also maintains substantial assets and General Fund reserves.

The city’s five-year forecast projects General Fund revenue increasing another 15.8%, but expenditures rising faster — 18.2%. Salaries and wages are the largest General Fund expenditure category, and the forecast assumes continued increases from employee step raises and comparable increases for nonunion workers.

Higgins’ proposed budget would increase General Fund spending by another $73 million, or 6%, to nearly $1.3 billion.

Commissioners will consider the proposed budget at public hearings Sept. 10 and Sept. 24. In November, Miami voters will separately decide whether to authorize $450 million in new borrowing for police and fire facilities.