Miami-Dade County continues to monitor state-level property tax reform, inflation, workforce challenges, interest rates, and changes in policy and funding priorities in light of financial trends. As the county’s clerk of the court and comptroller, Juan Fernandez-Barquin’s responsibilities includ e overseeing financial transactions and ensuring responsible management of public funds and compliance with budgetary and financial regulations. The county is preparing to address possible changes to these areas in 2026. “The property tax reform is still a very, very big concern for us, because the impact would be far-reaching,” Mr. Fernandez-Barquin said. “It would create potential job losses and substantial reductions in essential public services.… That continues to be a big, big thing that we’re keeping an eye on, since the governor specifically said that there would be a special session for it later this month.” Inflation also remains on his radar, he said, especially given the impacts of the Iran war. “Inflation continues to place pressure on both households and businesses. Specifically, the recent events in the Middle East have resulted in higher energy prices, which are expected to further reduce purchasing power in the coming months,” he said. “Fed members are also in a tough spot, as employment and the economy appear to be weakening, which would call for interest rate cuts, but at the same time, energy-driven inflation is moving up, which is a solid basis for increasing rate hikes,” Mr. Fernandez-Barquin continued. “So there’s that conflict where one would call for rates to go down, while the energy-driven inflation would call for rates to go up. And I would say for now, we anticipate that they’ll hold steady.” Workforce challenges continue to be pressing. He said the U.S. quits rate, which is a measure of workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs, “is actually at the lowest point in more than five years.” “As far as workforce challenges, the workforce challenges remain a huge concern for us and we are recognizing the advancements of AI and that potential to displace certain positions,” Mr. Fernandez-Barquin said. As it did earlier this year, the county is keeping track of “changes in policy and funding priorities,” which “could create more fiscal risks.” “The FEMA funding, if that gets reduced, it could leave the county in a very vulnerable position in the event of a major storm,” he said. “And then one big update was Kevin Walsh, a former Fed governor, was recently nominated by the president to replace Jerome Powell next month as chair of the Federal Reserve, but it’s unclear when he’ll be confirmed. It’s also unclear as to whether Jerome Powell will continue serving as Fed governor through January 2028.” Though experts expect “the Fed to remain on hold for much of 2026,” with higher energy prices “likely to drive overall inflation higher in the short-term,” they also expect rate cuts eventually, he said. “In reference to investments, with the Fed on hold in regards to cuts, to changing the rates, the current backup in yields has given us an opportunity to purchase government securities at the highest levels since last summer, and we’ve also been able to add callable agencies with coupon rates well above 4% in many cases,” Mr. Fernandez-Barquin said. “…And although Fed policy is on pause, we still believe the next move will be a rate cut eventually, thus extending overall maturities will be appropriate to lock in earnings at current levels, and we remain focused on staying at maintaining a good amount of liquidity and maintaining liquidity management to make sure that we have sufficient funds at our disposal.” The post Controller juggles variables to assess county priorities appeared first on Miami Today. ...read more read less