Miami Is Moving Nearly $1 Million in Tree Money. Where Is It Going?

Commissioners will vote Thursday on shifting $996,000 out of Citywide Tree Planting and into three other projects. The move raises a larger question: How can residents track where Miami’s tree money goes?

Just days after adopting a $3.7 billion budget for the year that began Oct. 1, Miami commissioners are being asked to move nearly $1 million out of a citywide tree-planting program.

Where the money is going is clear. What it will buy is not.

A capital budget amendment scheduled to go before the City Commission on Thursday would move $996,000 from Citywide Tree Planting into three other capital projects. But where it goes from there — and whether it is actually used to plant trees, as required under city code — is less easy to decipher.

The proposed transfer highlights a broader issue with Miami’s Tree Trust Fund, which uses fines and fees collected when trees are removed to pay for new plantings: The city reports planting thousands of trees with millions of dollars from the fund, but it can be difficult for the public to trace those dollars to where trees are ultimately planted and what they cost.

The question comes as Miami considers revamping its tree regulations, including how — and on what — Tree Trust Fund money can be spent. In July, a commission-appointed Tree Ordinance Advisory Committee began a systematic review of the rules, with input from residents who generally favor tighter controls on tree removal and stronger canopy protections, and development interests seeking greater flexibility.

City officials say Miami’s tree-planting efforts are bearing fruit.

According to a report issued in May, 21,667 trees were planted through city programs and requirements from 2023 through 2025, including required replacement trees and right-of-way plantings, compared with 6,959 standard removals — a net gain of 14,708 trees.

The city described the system as “working and trending in a positive direction.”

But those figures don’t show where Tree Trust-funded trees were planted, who planted them or what they cost.

A public records request filed by the Spotlight in mid-August seeking a list of all city tree plantings during the last two fiscal years — including the number and location of trees, who planted them and how much the work cost — remains unanswered.

Under Miami’s tree ordinance, property owners who cannot plant required replacement trees on-site or elsewhere in their commission district can instead make a financial contribution to the Tree Trust Fund.

Under city code, at least 80% of the fund must be spent on tree replacement, restoration and enhancement of the city’s tree canopy, with limited amounts available for certain professional services and training.

Over the past four fiscal years, more than $8 million in Tree Trust money has been transferred into an account called Citywide Tree Planting.

And from there, the money often moves again, records show.

Under the amendment commissioners will consider Thursday, $996,000 would be transferred out of the Citywide Tree Planting account and into three separate capital projects: $346,000 for the Miami River Greenway project, $400,000 for West Flagler Street beautification and $250,000 for street closures and traffic calming around Hadley Park.

Thursday’s legislation does not specify how the Tree Trust Fund money would be spent within those projects.

For the past two years, as the city has moved to rewrite its tree protection ordinance, officials have pushed for greater flexibility in how Tree Trust Fund money can be used, potentially freeing up millions of dollars for purposes beyond the tree planting and care required under the current code.

That push for greater flexibility comes amid longstanding questions about how the city tracks Tree Trust Fund money. A 2024 Spotlight investigation found that millions of dollars had been transferred from the fund into the city’s capital programs without any publicly accessible accounting of how the money had been used.

Questions of Tree Trust Fund use and oversight are not new. A 2021 audit by Miami’s Office of the Independent Auditor General, covering fiscal years 2015 through 2019, found a lack of written policies and procedures, failure to meet required spending levels and some expenditures auditors determined were not allowable under the fund’s rules.

A city spokesperson did not immediately respond Monday to questions about what the $996,000 would pay for, whether it would be used for tree planting or other project costs, and how the Tree Trust Fund money would be tracked and accounted for after it’s transferred.

The tree fund transfers are part of a much larger capital budget amendment commissioners will consider Thursday. The administration is proposing 180 transfers moving nearly $46 million among existing and new capital projects, saying the money would be shifted from completed or lower-priority projects to higher-priority needs.

Some involve substantial sums, including $1.53 million from a citywide storm-sewer repair account for West Grove roadway improvements and $790,000 that had been budgeted for trolley purchases but would instead be used for traffic calming in Center Grove and Little Bahamas.