Climate change threatens Miami real estate. The new appraiser wants lower taxes for that

Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald on Jan 13, 2025

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MIAMI — Miami-Dade’s newly elected property appraiser says it’s time for county property estimators to factor in the harm that climate change will bring to the local real estate market — and to lower property values accordingly.

“When we look to consider the future value of a property, we should also start considering location, climate change, insurance,” Tomás Regalado, a former city of Miami mayor, told a Hialeah audience Monday after his ceremonial swearing-in as head of the agency that assigns values to about 930,000 properties each year.

Doing so could mean a tax break for homeowners in vulnerable areas across Miami-Dade. Regalado presented his approach as a shift from the current practice of basing values on the “highest and best” use of a property, meaning what could be built there under existing zoning rules. He offered no details on how the shift would unfold during the four-year term he won in the November election, replacing fellow Republican Pedro Garcia, who retired.

Regalado portrayed the attempted shift as part of a turn away from the Property Appraiser’s Office usually looking for ways to increase the values used to calculate an owner’s yearly tax bill. Property-tax revenues are the primary source of revenue for Miami-Dade governments, including police and schools. Regalado told the audience that, after he took office on Jan. 7, his office dropped opposition to lower values that homeowners won from a county appeals board.

Asked why current market values wouldn’t already factor in climate change, Regalado said in an interview that he’s not sure that’s the case.

“We hope that it will, but sometimes we get off track,” said Regalado, a longtime radio and television broadcaster. “We have to be proactive.”

The speech came during a joint ceremony honoring him and two other recently elected Republican officials, who also took ceremonial oaths in a city auditorium in Hialeah.

Like Regalado, the county’s new elections supervisor, Alina Garcia, and new tax collector, Dariel Fernandez, took office on Jan. 7. All three were born in Cuba and were part of a Republican sweep of countywide offices in November that included the county’s new sheriff, Rosie Cordero-Stutz.

Who are the new elections supervisor and tax collector for Miami-Dade?

Unlike Regalado and Cordero-Stutz, Garcia and Fernandez are the first elected officials to hold their positions. Previously, their posts were appointed by the Miami-Dade mayor before a recent change in the Florida Constitution required the county to create independently elected offices for the roles. County police also were under the authority of Democratic Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, but the county had an elected sheriff in the 1960s before voters eliminated the position.

In their speeches on Monday:

Fernandez noted his office has authority over nearly a dozen motor-vehicle offices across Miami-Dade and that he hopes to expand options for residents wanting to renew their licenses.

“For too long, you, the resident, have had to come to us. Now we are bringing the service directly to you,” said Fernandez, who founded an online marketing company and is a former television and radio host in Miami. “We are working to install motor-vehicle registration kiosks in local grocery stores, making it easier to renew your driver registration while doing your shopping.”

Garcia, a former state representative, thanked President-elect Donald Trump for his endorsement during the 2024 campaign, as well as a list of Republican local officials who backed her campaign. She pledged to deliver fair elections in Miami-Dade and cited oppressive regimes in the Western Hemisphere, including Cuba, as a reminder of the value of American democracy.

“The suffering of the Cuban people, and the pain of our brothers and sisters in Venezuela, serve as a stark reminder of how precious and fragile freedom truly is today,” Garcia said. She said her parents taught her not to take for granted the American freedom to vote. “I promise to protect that precious right with every ounce of my being.”

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