As City of Miami voters take a closer look at County Commissioner Eileen Higgins’ record, a clear pattern emerges, not of leadership as she claims, but of systematically weakening independent agencies and shifting financial burdens onto everyday transit users. Her role in gutting the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust (CITT) is only the most recent example in a tenure defined by diminishing oversight and undermining the safeguards designed to protect taxpayers.
The CITT, created to provide independent oversight of the voter-approved half-penny transit tax, was once a crucial watchdog ensuring transparency and accountability. But under changes supported and advanced by Higgins, the board’s authority was dramatically cut. What was meant to be an independent barrier between political interests and transit-tax spending has now been reduced to a symbolic advisory group with little real power.
This was not a one-off decision. It reflects a broader pattern. Higgins frequently describes herself as a strong advocate for public transit, but her actions repeatedly contradict that narrative. During the last county budget hearing, she even recommended that users be charged at least $100 per month to ride the Metromover, a system that has been free for decades and serves as an essential connector for thousands of City of Miami residents. Higgins implied that those who rely on it most “should pay,” even though many of those riders are service workers, seniors, and low-income residents who depend on the Metromover for daily transportation.
Her push to impose what amounts to a new tax on transit-dependent users stunned advocates. For City of Miami residents already struggling with rising housing and living costs, Higgins’s proposal revealed a philosophy that prioritizes extracting revenue over maintaining accessible mobility.
Her support for weakening the CITT reinforces the same disconnect. While she publicly touts transparency and smarter transit investments, she backed reforms that stripped away the one institution specifically created to guarantee those things. City of Miami voters approved the half-penny tax with the understanding that an independent body would protect their dollars from political misuse. Instead of strengthening oversight, Higgins helped dismantle it.
Looking back at her record, a consistent theme emerges. Oversight gets weaker, independence shrinks, and transit users are asked to shoulder more of the burden. Whether it is undermining the CITT or advocating for costly new charges on essential services like the Metromover, Higgins’s actions have repeatedly worked against the interests of City of Miami residents who rely on public transit.
As Miami confronts major challenges, including affordability, congestion, and a growing trust deficit in government, voters deserve leaders who protect independent oversight, expand access to public services, and prioritize residents over bureaucracy. Commissioner Higgins’s record makes clear that her rhetoric does not match her results, and transit users in the City of Miami are the ones left paying the price.
