Remarks by Rachel Streitfeld
749 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 10 of 30
- Play at 35:56
“Does anyone on the dais have questions about the millage summary?”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 36:41
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 36:59
“Okay. So this is tied to property tax reform. So it's a voter decision in November and then a legislative interpretation authorization in the following session if it's passed by voters.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 39:15
“Yeah, let's go back to the beginning of the slide presentation. And I want to ask my colleagues, I want to open up the floor to the dais who has questions on these summary slides, department by department. Who wants to go first?”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 49:47
“Because we have PFM here, why don't we go back to the subject matter where their expertise is needed and have that discussion?”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 55:44
“Can I clarify really quickly? The increase in the debt millage to 2.7767 mils, that is just to cover our 25-26 expenses, right?”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 56:04
“No, that's okay. The manager walked us through this slide. The manager can answer. Right, Frank? The increase to 2.77, that's just to cover our 25-26 expenses, or that's what's anticipated for 26-27? Right. That knowledge...”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 56:37
“But it's not going to cover the next $10 million tranche.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:01:21
“I just want to share a point of information for everyone. North Bay Village at our debt millage of 1.66 mills is by far the highest debt millage in Miami-Dade County, by far. Just a point of information.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:02:26
“That's a great suggestion, Commissioner Trevone. The useful life of these projects is probably 50 years. Yeah.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:12:53
“I want to hone in on this very specific issue and pull the commission so that we can get answers and move things along. So if you are in favor of keeping the events as a Village General Fund expense, indicate so now.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:13:24
“staff cannot fundraise the fundraising component the same way that the fundraising component fell on us for the community center grand opening staff cannot fundraise we have to go out and fundraise and direct those funds to 501c3 okay so that will go into the what is that the fund that we have that we use Miami a day whatever it's called It's the Miami Foundation, which is the sponsor of the North Bay Village Foundation. Fundraise.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:14:24
“Yeah, but let me clarify something. The North Bay Village Foundation is not on its own a 501c3 foundation. We have a space sponsored by the Miami Foundation. So on Give Miami Day, we participate in that. But all of the funds that were raised for the community center grand opening Those funds were raised by us, the elected officials going out to the community. We obviously had materials prepared so that we could fundraise and there was a mechanism established on the back end so that people can make those contributions and that they would be directed to the right place, right? But we raised…”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:15:37
“I know. I want to make it clear to the rest of the day that it would be our obligation and that staff would not be responsible for that.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:15:53
“I'm not arguing with you, Vice Mayor. I'm just clarifying the situation for everyone.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:17:26
“Yes. I also think everyone needs to keep in mind that we are in an extraordinarily precarious position as we discuss this year's budget because we don't know what we will be able to do next year. There very well may be a reality where we cannot increase our budget. So if we go bare, bare, bare, bare bones on expenses this year, that is the level that we are setting for subsequent years. We cannot increase. And so I want everyone to think deeply about what that would mean for us in the coming years. If we're going to set the bar very, very, very, very high, modestly this year.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:19:12
“But you can go over that. We can go over that unanimously. Unanimous, yes, unanimous.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:19:50
“Well, it's, it's, But it's not that simple. It's six mils on one bucket of money and 2.7 on a second bucket of money.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:20:20
“What I think... we all need to do is a very deliberate and concerted series of conversations with our neighbors about taxes and how they feel about increases in taxes. You know, last year's budget season was also difficult. I know many of you were talking to your neighbors about what they were willing to pay for. I certainly was. And I got a lot of feedback that people were willing to pay more in taxes to, you know, continue supporting businesses the police department at the staffing levels that we have today. And so as we're in this workshop period over the summer, the next couple of weeks,…”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:22:22
“Yeah, and I will also add, sorry to interrupt you, Commissioner, but the increase in the debt millage is not, I mean, obviously the 10 million in stormwater funds is a significant expense, but it's also, we have many, many, many state revolving loans that we are spending that money to upgrade our infrastructure, including getting the village out of a full building moratorium, right? Remember, we were in a building moratorium because our wastewater infrastructure was so leaky. And we got out of that in two years and that cost a lot of money. And so putting perspective, this is not money that's…”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:24:38
“What do you guys think? Do you want to keep talking about any of these things? Are there questions that you want to ask now? Or do we want to wrap this up and just consider this the introductory workshop and we'll drill down more into the weeds in July? I'm happy to do whatever the will of the commission is. It is excruciatingly difficult for me to not be in the room with you all, especially because I'm at this inn on a couch, and it's incredibly uncomfortable, and my entire family is at dinner. But I'm happy to keep going through these questions. What do you guys think?”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:26:43
“I mean, I see it on the slide. I have my book, right? But I see the slide.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:27:30
“I mean, I'm not particularly worried about setting the millage at the end of July because whatever we set the millage at, we can reduce it. We can't increase, but we can reduce what we spend.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:31:46
“What about 1, 2, and 3? We're going up to 6, I think, yeah?”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026
- Play at 1:37:52
“Soon, right? We have like another two weeks until it's done. I know we had a lot of questions and we're maybe extending the response times.”
Village Commission · Jun 25, 2026