Xavier Suarez Wants to Fire Overpaid Bureaucrats and Sell Off County Buildings

We've never really bought into Xavier Suarez's hokey, at times egomaniacal, approach to governing. And it's difficult to get past the fact he is forever linked to the 1997 Miami mayoral voter fraud scandal that had dead people casting ballots. That said, the X-Man has devised a bold plan to slash Miami-Dade County's bloated bureaucracy. It involves getting rid of 380 employees earning $125,000 to $150,000 a year and selling a slew of taxpayer-owned facilities, including the emergency operations center in Doral, which would free up hundreds of millions of dollars in the county budget.

Suarez outlined his ideas in a recently released 24-page report to his colleagues on the county commission.

He estimates the county could save between $37.5 million and $45 million a year by eliminating 300 supervisory positions, as well as another $12 million by cutting 80 lieutenants, captains, and assistant chiefs in the fire department. Suarez also had his aide, Janelle Jay, analyze county properties that could be put on the market to raise cash flow.

She concluded that four departments, including the elections office in Doral and the transit headquarters next to the Overtown Metrorail station, could relocate to the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, allowing county officials to sell four buildings currently worth $66 million.

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