WLRN Public Media | By Amelia Orjuela Da Silva | Miami Times

Facing Miami-Dade County’s most severe budget shortfall since the 2008 financial crisis, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava launched a series of town halls this past weekend. With a projected $387 million deficit looming over next year’s $3.6 billion general fund, the mayor told residents that the time for hard decisions — and community input — is now.

“We are in a perfect storm,” Levine Cava said on Saturday at North Dade Regional Library.

“We weathered the COVID storm. We came out stronger than ever, and we are confident we’re going to weather this one too. But we do have very difficult decisions ahead, so we wanted to bring the community into the conversation,” she added.

This story was originally produced by WLRN, South Florida’s only public radio station at 91.3 FM, as part of a content sharing partnership with MIA Media Group. Read more at WLRN.org