Jesse Scheckner
Former Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado has won a race for Miami-Dade Property Appraiser, returning to public office after seven years away.
With early votes fully tallied, mail-in ballots partially counted and all but two of 757 precincts reporting Tuesday night, Regalado, a Republican, had 57% of the vote to defeat Democrat Marisol Zenteno, a property-assessing pro who has now run twice for the job.
Regalado will replace Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia, who is stepping down at 87 after 14 years of service.
This year’s race came amid skyrocketing property values, taxes and insurance costs that persisted despite numerous recent state and local measures aimed at alleviating the area’s unaffordability.
Regalado, a 76-year-old former broadcast journalist who served in Miami city government for 20 years, placed affordability atop his list of campaign priorities. He promised to push state lawmakers to increase exemptions for seniors, veterans and low-income families while maintaining a commerce-friendly environment for businesses at home.
He also vowed to combat mortgage, deed and homestead exemption fraud and said he hoped to have the Property Appraiser’s Office consider sea-level rise and other climate change issues in its calculations.
As Miami Mayor, he championed the city’s “Forever” bond issue to confront sea-level rise issues.
Zenteno, 57, spent close to 10 years working under Garcia, whom she unsuccessfully challenged in 2020. She previously served as a general real estate appraiser for the state.
Zenteno’s platform included no promises to address cost issues. She told the Miami Herald, which endorsed Regalado, that expanding exemptions requires legislative action or a constitutional amendment, and that she planned to focus more on immediately actionable issues at the local level.
She pledged to improve how efficient, transparent and accessible the Property Appraiser’s Office is while bringing a “bright, new and refreshing perspective” to the position.
The Property Appraiser is responsible for assessing the annual value of all real estate properties in the county and providing that information to local governments and jurisdictions. Property taxes are a massive source of revenue for Miami-Dade, second only to proprietary revenue derived from businesslike services the government provides.
Miami-Dade records show property taxes account for 37%, or nearly $3 billion, of the county’s $8 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2024-25 — up from $2 billion in 2019-2020.
Regalado significantly outraised Zenteno. He reported amassing almost $446,000 through his campaign account and political committee, Proven Leadership for Miami, by Oct. 31. He had about $241,000 left less than a week from Election Day.
Zenteno raised about $110,000 and spent $80,000. She also launched a political committee last month called Appraise Property Fairly. It reported no campaign finance activity.
Major developers in Miami-Dade — including the Related Group, Melo Group and Dacra — gave large sums to Regalado’s campaign, The Real Deal reported.
Zenteno, meanwhile, depended primarily on personal checks and more than $20,000 from her bank account.
Regalado, the father of Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado, carried several notable endorsements, including nods from the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, Hispanic Police Officers Association, Miami-Dade Firefighters Local 1403 and SEIU Local 1991.
Miami Realtors PAC, Ruth’s List Florida, the South Florida AFL-CIO, AFSCME Florida and the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations backed Zenteno.
So did Miami Gardens Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones, Hollywood Democratic Rep. Marie Woodson, North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme and Opa-locka Mayor John Taylor, among others.
