FYI Miami: July 10, 2025

FLAT WATER: Water and sewer rates would not rise in the coming year, with Miami-Dade County absorbing cost increases rather than passing them on to users, under a resolution in the Appropriations Committee this week. The resolution would require the Water and Sewer Department to present a plan to absorb cost increases, promoting “financial discipline and transparency in the budget process,” Raquel Regalado’s resolution says. The department would have to find “creative and sustainable cost-control measures” including “reprioritizing capital improvement projects, delaying non-critical expenditures, improving procurement strategies and supply chain management, reducing overtime or vacancy-related inefficiencies, finding alternatives to waste water treatment and disposal, and leveraging of state grants to offset operating costs.”

HIGH JOB GAINS: The Miami Metropolitan Statistical Area showed a far larger job gain percentage in May than the nation as a whole and the third-highest gain in absolute numbers nationally, figures released last week by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal. The Miami area grew 1.4% in total jobs from May 2024 to May 2025, while the nation as a whole was showing a 1.1% job gain. This area gained 42,900 jobs in those 12 months, trailing only 95,300 jobs for New York and 46,800 for Dallas. Philadelphia at 41,100 jobs gained was fourth. At the bottom of the scale, San Francisco showed a 21,300-job loss, with Atlanta second-lowest with a 2,000-job gain.

DRIVING THE TRAINS: As Miami-Dade and Broward counties plan to run commuter rail from downtown Miami to Aventura and on into the heart of Broward County, “We know there’s discussions with SFRTA [which runs Tri-Rail] and Brightline,” a privately owned rail firm, to operate the new service, says Maria Perdomo of Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works. The counties expect within three months to pick an operating entity that would then choose what group will run the trains. Timing is crucial, because train orders take a long time. “Nationwide, it’s taking about four years to purchase these type of vehicles,” she told the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust. Plans are for the railway to be rolling by the second quarter of 2032.

JOBLESS CLAIMS UP: First-time unemployment claims in Florida increased slightly as June came to a close. The US Department of Labor estimated 6,892 initial claims were filed in the state during the week that ended June 28, up from 6,516 during the previous week.

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