$6,000 on paper, $82,000 in practice — Miami-Dade voters decide who sets commission pay
Miami-Dade's charter still sets commissioner pay at $6,000 a year, a 1950s figure. The real pay arrives through allowances. Referendum 1 would scrap the charter salary and hand pay-setting to an appointed panel — and voters have rejected raises at least 13 times before.
- The charter salary is $6,000; a Miami Herald review put real compensation around $82,000 through allowances — $43,940 in expenses, $19,605 in executive benefits, $11,437 for a car — plus about $72,000 a year in county retirement contributions.
- Referendum 1 would remove the charter salary and let a five-member independent panel set commission pay each year, capped at about $127,779 under Florida's state formula.
- Voters have rejected commissioner raises at least 13 times; critics say the referendum hands their final say to appointees they don't elect.
- Early voting runs October 19 to November 1; Election Day is November 3.
Start with the number on paper: $6,000 a year. That is what Miami-Dade County's charter — written in the 1950s — still lists as a county commissioner's salary. Nobody actually works for that. A Miami Herald review of the county payroll found the real compensation lands around $82,000, assembled from allowances: $43,940 in expense money, $19,605 in executive benefits and $11,437 for a car, with the county also contributing about $72,000 a year toward retirement.
County Referendum 1, on the November 3 ballot, would end the arrangement. It removes the $6,000 charter salary and gives the decision to a five-member independent panel, which would set commission pay each year under Florida's state formula — capped at about $127,779. Supporters call that transparency: one honest number, set in the open, instead of a fiction plus allowances.
The critics' case is history. Miami-Dade voters have been asked about commissioner pay raises at least 13 times and have said no every time. This referendum doesn't ask again — it removes the question from the ballot for good and gives the final say to appointees the voters don't elect. Early voting opens Monday, October 19, and runs through November 1.