Former Miami mayor elected to be Miami-Dade’s next property appraiser

Unofficial results show two Republican candidates have captured high-level county offices — former Miami mayor Tomás Regalado was elected Miami-Dade County's next property appraiser and business owner Dariel Fernandez was elected tax collector.

Regalado, 76, bested Marisol Zenteno, a 10-year employee of the property appraiser's office and certified property appraiser. Regalado, a Republican, is a longtime Spanish-language radio and TV personality and former two-term mayor of Miami who served from 2009 to 2017. Zenteno, a Democrat, ran unsuccessfully in 2020 against the current property appraiser, Pedro Garcia, who decided not to run this year.

Both ran to fill a position that sets taxable values for all properties in Miami-Dade County. The property appraiser's work is important in determining all property owners' tax bills. The values are part of tax bill calculations that use rates set by local governments.

Regalado said one of his priorities was to incorporate the flooding risk from sea level rise into property valuations.

"Sea level rise is the thing that is now. It's not the future. It's now," Regalado told the Miami Herald. "It's the new normal. We need to apply to that the property value."

In the race for tax collector, Fernandez, a 46-year-old owner of a software company, beat David Richardson, 67, a former Miami Beach commissioner and state legislator. It is the first time Miami-Dade voters are electing a tax collector after a 2018 constitutional amendment changed the previously appointed county position into an elected, partisan and independent office.

The tax collector does more than just take in taxes. The office collects money from motor vehicle registrations, renewals, license plates and titles. The tax collector also issues handicap permits, business permits, and fishing and hunting licenses. Soon, the office will also assume the responsibility for issuing driver's licenses.