By Coral Gables Gazette staff

Coral Gables commissioners used Wednesday’s annual Capital Improvements Plan workshop to shape a recommended $55.1 million spending framework for the city’s five-year capital program while acknowledging that looming state property-tax changes could force significant budget adjustments as soon as fiscal year 2028.

The June 3 session, led by Deputy Finance Director Paula Rodriguez, covered more than 130 active and planned capital projects spanning infrastructure maintenance, historic preservation, park development, sidewalk expansion, and the city’s $69.8 million mobility hub — a project that will be financed separately through a special revenue bond.

A better-than-expected funding picture — for now

The commission entered the workshop with more capital capacity than staff had anticipated just days earlier. Property values in Coral Gables increased 6.5 percent for the coming fiscal year, with 1 percent of that growth attributable to new construction. The stronger-than-projected numbers allowed staff to recommend funding several projects that were not on the funded list before June 1.

Rodriguez said the city allocated approximately $20.5 million in recurring general fund revenue to the capital plan, with $5 million committed to the city hall complex and $7.3 million directed to capital maintenance matrices. The full matrices category — covering recurring replacements of equipment, HVAC systems, roofs, elevators, vehicles, radios, and fire equipment — was funded in its entirety at just under $12.6 million, meeting a commission resolution passed earlier this year requiring at least 85 percent recurring revenue coverage.

The funding picture, Rodriguez stressed, was deliberately shaped with Tallahassee in mind.

Florida lawmakers have advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that would expand homestead exemptions for non-school property taxes — a change that, if approved by voters in November, would substantially reduce ad valorem revenue for municipalities beginning in fiscal year 2028.

“What we’ve really tried to do is plan the operating budget in a way that we would have minimal cuts as possible and put the increases in property values into capital,” Rodriguez said, “which would be an easier way to reduce our budget because this wouldn’t affect necessarily the operations and services.”

Mayor Vince Lago was direct about the stakes. “Everything is potentially an option right now,” he said, raising the prospect that pension overfunding, sea level rise reserves, and other dedicated funds may all need to be reconsidered if the amendment passes. City Manager Peter Iglesias noted that Tallahassee had introduced some additional flexibility but that the full impact would not be known until after the November vote.

City hall renovation: A firm commitment, an open price

The most consequential single line item in the plan is the city hall complex renovation, currently estimated at $31 million. The project has been funded at $5 million per year since a 2023 commitment and is expected to be financed through a bond, with annual contributions applied to debt service.

Iglesias said the city is pursuing a guaranteed maximum price from the selected contractor and would not hesitate to return to market if the GMP does not come in at an acceptable figure. He noted that exploratory demolition is already underway to uncover conditions behind the building’s walls before a final price is set.

Lago cautioned publicly that the renovation would almost certainly surface hidden costs, pointing to the Burger Bob’s project — a prior renovation that drew political criticism — as a case study in the unpredictable expense of working inside older buildings.

“Once you skin the building, especially a building of this magnitude that hasn’t had — that’s had a lot of water intrusion, you’re going to find issues,” Lago said. He was emphatic that the city would not paper over structural problems to hold down costs. “This is not what we do here. Maybe other cities do that, but we don’t.”

Commissioner Ariel Fernandez added that the renovation must be done to last. “If we don’t do it right, in 20 years another commission is going to have to spend twice as much money to redo the work,” the commissioner said.

Sidewalks: More ambition and tighter money

The sidewalk program generated the workshop’s longest discussion. Rodriguez presented a slide showing that the sidewalk repair and replacement budget will decrease from $2 million this year to $1 million in fiscal year 2027, a consequence of directing available funds to other priorities. New sidewalk installations will be maintained at $750,000, and extensions and crosswalks at $250,000.

Lago pushed back on any suggestion that the overall sidewalk investment has grown dramatically. “We have to be very careful with the words we choose,” he said, noting that project-specific work on University Drive, Blue Road, and Alhambra have historically been funded separately from the base sidewalk replacement account.

The Granada corridor emerged as the workshop’s most celebrated near-term pedestrian project. A segment from Dixie Highway to Bird Road will be funded through a Florida Department of Transportation grant — a win staff credited to the city’s lobbying effort — while a second segment from Ponce de León Boulevard south to Bird Road carries $1.7 million in Miami-Dade County impact fees. Lago praised the work of staff in securing the FDOT funding and described the Granada project as an ideal candidate for new sidewalks because large lot sizes and significant setbacks limit conflicts with property owners and tree canopy.

Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson raised the condition of the Riviera Drive corridor near Coral Gables Senior High School, noting that students lack safe walking access. Lago confirmed door-to-door outreach had been conducted in the area and described a broader vision for a safe pedestrian and bicycle grid between Bird Road, University Drive, and Ponce de León — a network he framed as moving forward “one small bite at a time.”

Biochar, bridges and a sea level rise firewall

A $1.74 million biochar facility at 72nd Avenue drew broad commission support. The project would process organic yard waste into biochar, diverting green matter from the Miami-Dade landfill and reducing the city’s tipping fees. Lago framed the investment as a hedge against rapidly escalating waste disposal costs, noting that Miami-Dade’s landfill is projected to reach capacity within five years and that the county’s primary waste-to-energy facility — the Resources Recovery Facility in Doral, operated by Reworld (formerly Covanta) — has been non-operational since a catastrophic fire destroyed the mass-burn plant in February 2023. Miami-Dade County is now planning a replacement waste-to-energy campus, a multi-year process that leaves the county without its primary incineration capacity in the interim.

“The faster we get this biochar facility up and running, the faster we start saving money as we divert the green matter from landfills,” Lago said. The city is also exploring a research partnership with the University of Miami’s engineering department on additional uses for the material.

The $11.3 million utility improvements category — covering sanitary sewer, stormwater, and sea level rise mitigation — was funded in full from enterprise revenues. The sea level rise program alone accounts for $5 million, drawn from a dedicated fee collected on water bills toward a $100 million target by fiscal year 2040.

Lago asked whether any sea level rise funds could be redirected to offset potential general fund losses from the property tax amendment. Rodriguez said the funds are legally restricted to their designated purpose and diversion outside the enterprise system would not be permissible without legislative change. Commissioner Fernandez suggested the city explore lobbying Tallahassee for additional flexibility in how enterprise and dedicated funds may be used going forward.

Bridge repairs received the full $615,000 requested. Emergency generator installations totaling $1.78 million were recommended for funding at the adult activity center — which houses a rescue recon team — and at the Coral Gables Country Club, which can serve as a post-storm distribution point.

Parks, preservation and state appropriations

Commissioners indicated support for Rotary Park funding ($546,000), which is in permitting and expected to begin construction in October after a state recreation grant was not funded this year. Design funding was also approved for Coral Bay Park ($300,000), Blue Road Open Space phase two ($170,000), Ruth Bryan Owen Waterway Park ($390,000), Ponce de León triangle park ($250,000), and Salvador Park tennis pro shop renovations ($350,000).

On the historic preservation front, $215,000 will complete the gondola building renovation at its new location, and $1.7 million is earmarked for a durable restoration of the Alhambra Water Tower — a structure that Rodriguez noted has required repeated renovation cycles because of the original construction method.

The city expects to receive approximately $2.2 million in state appropriations this fiscal year, compared to $750,000 the previous year and nothing the year before. Rodriguez said the figure includes $450,000 for gravity sewer rehabilitation, $400,000 for traffic calming, $225,000 for downtown drainage, $225,000 for Ponce corridor flood mitigation, and $900,000 for environmental remediation at the former waste transfer site near 72nd Avenue. She noted the appropriations were not included in the current projections and would be incorporated once confirmed.

What comes next

Rodriguez said the results of Wednesday’s discussion will be incorporated into the city’s July 1 budget estimate, with a formal budget hearing scheduled for July 8. The full five-year capital plan carries an estimated request of roughly $156 million; the $55.1 million currently funded reflects what recurring revenues, enterprise funds, and targeted debt financing can support. City hall and the mobility hub account for the bulk of the unfunded gap and are both planned for bond financing.