The sovereign State of Miami-Dade prolongs budget talks

It took almost all day, but a few small Miami-Dade County schools issues finally were resolved late Saturday night during negotiations over how to plug the state's $2.4 billion budget deficit. Next (and last) up: how much to raid from trust funds, the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund and the Budget Stabilization Fund.

To get to this point, Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander spent all day haggling with Miami Rep. David Rivera and Miami Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla in the background over Miami-Dade schools. Alexander agreed to cut just $900,000 from a $7m Dade-only schools line item. The Senate originally wanted to trim $1.8m.

Alexander, Rivera and Diaz de la Portilla also persuaded Miami-Dade schools to drop a lawsuit over property tax-calculations in return for $25 million at issue in the suit.

"Dade issues, like most sessions, overshadow about everything we do," Alexander said.

"Miami-Dade was confronted with several vexing issues during the special session and I believe we survived them all in the best position possible," said Rivera.

Finally, By 10 p.m., the budget committees closed their work with schools and corrections. The Senate backed off its proposal to cut 391 Department of Corrections jobs when the House proposed a cut of 129 empty positions.