Miami commissioners increase budget for new city admin building again

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(The Center Square) –  Miami commissioners voted to increase the authorized budget for the new city administration building by $2.81 million Thursday.

The funds are from payments the city received from Florida Power & Light for easements that allowed substation facilities and an access road.

Commissioners also authorized a $2.22 million payment to FPL to cover the additional cost of installing underground electrical service instead of overhead power lines for the facility.

The original budget for the new building was set at $150 million, but that number later increased to over $241 million, according to the city’s budget documents.

Construction began last year and is expected to be completed by 2027. It is being built at Miami Freedom Park, a 130-acre mixed-use development that will also house Inter Miami CF’s new stadium.

The planned facility is expected to have eight stories with government offices taking up 257,000 square feet and an attached parking garage for up to 900 vehicles, according to the city.

The city of Miami said it has been looking to replace its “functionally obsolete” current office tower since 2015. It requested development proposals for a new facility in 2016 with an emphasis on the space being able to “functionally, securely and conveniently serve Miami’s residents.”

In September, the commission voted to keep its meetings at the old location despite constructing a new facility - a decision that Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela said he had reservations about.

“The problem is that we just spent money on a supposedly new city hall that some of us approved about two or three years ago. And I, for one, do not want to give the impression that ‘how many city halls are these commissioners going to have?’ You know? And ‘if they weren’t going to use that city hall down in the Freedom Park, why the hell did they build it anyway and spend the taxpayer money?’ That’s what I’m concerned about,” Gabela said.

Last year, Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia said the city of Miami spends more than $94 million annually in an excessive and wasteful manner, accounting for population growth and inflation.

The city of Miami’s general fund budget increased by over $358 million from fiscal 2019-20 to fiscal 2024-25, an increase of more than 44%, according to Ingoglia.

“A financial burden has been placed on the shoulders of the taxpayers,” Ingoglia said at the time. “This burden must be rectified, and local governments must take steps to provide property tax relief to residents. Uncovering the reckless spending of the City of Miami is step one to ensure that voters can hold local bureaucrats and career politicians accountable.”