Facing another ugly financial year, Miami-Dade mayor replaces her budget chief

Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald on Jan 7, 2026

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MIAMI — As her administration gears up for the bruising task of balancing Miami-Dade County’s next budget, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is replacing her longtime budget chief with her library director.

Chief Budget Officer David Clodfelter, who helped Levine Cava manage a massive influx of federal COVID aid and then propose austerity measures when the money ran out, will take on an advisory role in the mayor’s administration. Ray Baker, a veteran county administrator who has run the $133-million-a-year library system since 2017, will take over as budget director and manage the drafting of the 2027 budget proposal Levine Cava must submit this summer. Before taking the top job at the library system, Baker worked in various administrative posts, including a stint as an analyst at the budget office, according to his county biography.

“The year ahead is expected to be both critical and challenging from a fiscal and operational standpoint,” Levine Cava wrote in a memo released Tuesday afternoon announcing the changes.

The current county budget tops $12.9 billion, and Clodfelter was the administrator in charge of both writing the spending proposal and then implementing it throughout the year.

Clodfelter was promoted to budget director shortly after Levine Cava won her first term in 2020.

He had been working in the office since 2009, and his new post put him in charge of both securing and spending the hundreds of millions of dollars coming to Miami-Dade from Washington under stimulus and COVID recovery programs run by the Biden administration. Booming home prices spiked property-tax revenue too, and Levine Cava secured two tax rate cuts before winning reelection in 2024.

The county’s fiscal fortunes changed last year as Clodfelter’s staff helped Levine Cava craft a 2026 budget proposal that closed a $400 million gap between projected revenues and spending needs. The original Levine Cava budget proposal had austerity measures, including layoffs, fee hikes and service cuts.

But by the time commissioners cast their final budget votes in September, the mayor and commission had rolled back most of the austerity measures with a mix of one-time revenues and other stopgap measures. That sets up an even more challenging landscape for Baker as he takes over the budget office with two years left in Levine Cava’s final term.

In moving Baker to the budget office, Levine Cava also named Lydia Lopez, an assistant library director, as his interim replacement.

The memo said Clodfelter will take on an advisory role working on new efficiency efforts for county government under his current boss, Chief Administrative Officer Carladenise Edwards.