‘Bait and switch’? Coral Gables, other cities asked to cover higher Underline costs

As the Underline park and trail under the Metrorail tracks nears completion of its final piece, a three-mile stretch through Coral Gables, it’s hitting an unexpected bump.

Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago and other city leaders are sharply questioning a multimillion-dollar request from the nonprofit group that manages the trail, The Underline Conservancy, for help with maintenance and operational costs for the segment within the city’s boundaries.

The full Underline request, for $4.49 million over five years, came as sticker shock for city leaders, who say they were promised by Miami-Dade County that maintenance costs would not fall on the cities the linear park runs through along U.S. 1.

Negotiations are underway between city staff and the Conservancy, the group that manages the Underline’s operations and maintenance under an agreement with the county. Miami-Dade owns the 10-mile trail and has earmarked $6 million in total operational support, though that’s now set to mostly end in two years. The county’s transit agency has overseen the Underline’s design and construction, which cost around $140 million.

Coral Gables has asked the Conservancy for extensive records on its spending and staffing before it makes any funding commitments, while Lago has said his complaint is aimed mainly at the county.

“You cannot bait and switch cities after you told them that if you provide us with the economics necessary to build it, we will ensure that your O and M [operation and maintenance] is taken care of,” Lago told the Miami Herald in an interview this week.

Lago, a longtime Underline supporter, crafted the initial deal years ago that gave the county $7 million in Gables funds to help construct the linear park. The city has also given an additional $379,000 for the Underline’s new dog park.

In a statement issued Thursday in response to a Miami Herald query, the county’s department of transit and public works said the Underline management group is solely responsible for maintenance and operational costs under their agreement, but added: “There is no record of any commitment exempting a municipality along the corridor from contributing to maintenance and operations expenses.”

Coral Gables officials have been unable to come up with documentation showing the county’s promise in writing, but Lago and other city officials insist that’s been the understanding until recently.

“I would have never moved forward if it would have been a financial commitment to do the construction and also to maintain the facility,” he said.

Underline supporters also approached South Miami and the city of Miami for operational help, and both agreed last year to provide significant multi-year funding.

Eulois Cleckley, the CEO of Friends of The Underline, a nonprofit charged with raising private funds for the trail, and formerly Miami-Dade’s transit director from 2021 to 2024, said he is unaware of the county ever promising Coral Gables or other cities that they would be off the hook for operational support.

While noting that he was not with the county when the Underline project was launched more than a decade ago, Cleckley said he has been unable to substantiate Lago’s assertions since the mayor first raised them in a commission meeting in May.

“We’re not trying to point fingers at anyone, but there’s something that’s been misinterpreted or lost along the way,” Cleckley said in an interview. “I can’t tell you where that comes from.”

Cleckley said the Underline support organizations have given the city much of the financial information they’ve been seeking and have scheduled a meeting next week with Gables officials to iron out a deal.

He and Underline originator Meg Daly have also stressed that the Friends organization has been ramping up private fundraising and sponsorships, with a goal of meeting 60% of estimated operating costs next year. Those annual costs are expected to come in at a total of around $9.5 million once the entire trail is finished later this year.

On Tuesday, Gables commissioners joined together in a rare sign of unity to support the negotiations and set a deadline of Sept. 29, the date of the next City Commission meeting, for a vote on a deal with the Underline.

How is the Underline funded?

Miami-Dade last year agreed to provide three years of ongoing operational funding to the Conservancy, with the amount tapering down every year — from $1.8 million this year to $1.5 million in next year’s budget. The following year, county support would drop to $973,000, with no guarantee of continued support beyond that.

The county also agreed in 2018 to provide an escalating management fee to the Underline group for 30 years that this year amounts to $396,000.

In addition, Miami-Dade is chipping in a lump sum of more than $1.5 million it gets from licensing fees from Florida Power & Light and will continue to hand over the increasing annual fees for 30 years, an amount that’s about $25,000 in 2027.

The Underline’s construction is wrapping up years early thanks to a substantial federal grant, according to Daly. That means projections for ramped-up fundraising as the project progressed did not anticipate the full bill for operation of the trail to arrive so soon.

That’s left a funding gap that the Conservancy has turned to three cities the trail runs through — Miami, South Miami and Coral Gables — to fill. While some degree of public funding will likely remain necessary, Underline supporters say, they hope it won’t be substantial as fundraising and revenue increase.

The amount the Conservancy sought from the cities represents about 30% of the total cost of operating, programming and maintaining the lushly landscaped and heavily amenitized trail and park, which runs from the Dadeland South Metrorail station to the Miami River in Brickell.

In the Gables, the Underline came to the city with a five-year funding ask: $180,000 for fiscal year 2026, and $1 million annually after that, with an annual 5% cost increase, to help cover operational and maintenance costs. Gables commissioners have already agreed to pay up for this year — but the money won’t be released until a deal is made. Lago said the city won’t sign a multi-year deal and is only willing to consider funding on a year-by-year basis.

Given that the Underline will provide significant amenities and improvements to the communities it runs through, supporters say, it’s fair to ask that they share in the cost of running it.

“We’re asking for a shared commitment here because of the value of the project, and it just makes good sense as we move forward, especially in the vein of being a public and private partnership that this was originally intended to be,” Cleckley told Gables commissioners during a meeting in May.

But commissioners echoed Lago’s complaint about the county.

“What accountability is there when the first agreement is not being upheld?” Commissioner Ariel Fernandez said at the meeting. “We were told maintenance is going to be covered, and now we’re on the hook for maintenance going forward.”

Gables leaders have made clear they do want to fund the Underline, a relief to the Underline supporters who have spoken at recent city meetings. But it’s not clear how deeply the city is willing to dip into its coffers as it tries to cut costs and prepare for a possible future with millions less in property tax, a significant funding source for city services, if Florida voters approve Amendment 3 in November.

It’s a “very stressful economic moment here in the city of Coral Gables,” Lago said in the interview.

Underline supporters have disputed some assertions by Gables officials, suggesting they may have been based on outdated or misunderstood documents.

In a presentation to commissioners, Coral Gables Assistant City Manager Carolina Vester contended the Underline’s operational costs have risen a head-spinning 2,400% from the initial estimates of the project’s inception nearly a decade ago. She said she based her calculation on a memo by Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava from 2023 that cites a $358,000 annual commitment from the county toward Underline maintenance and how much the Conservancy says actual maintenance will now cost, about $9 million.

According to the transit department statement, though, that figure of $358,000 represented the initial annual amount of the management fee the county is paying the Underline group to administer the trail.

Daly has said that supporters have long stated publicly that properly maintaining the trail once it opened would run into the millions of dollars, or roughly $1 million per mile.

How much did other cities give to The Underline?

Underline supporters said they initially approached the three cities two years ago with requests for operational support. In 2025, South Miami agreed to pay $300,000 for the rest of the fiscal year to help maintain and operate the 1-mile stretch of the Underline that runs through the city from Red Road to Southwest 80th Street. After that, its support will increase by 5% annually, up to $364,652 for fiscal year 2030, according to the agreement reviewed by the Herald.

South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez in an interview this week described it as a financially difficult, but necessary, commitment the city made ahead of potential property tax cuts because “it’s important for us to be part of the solution.” He said about 30% of South Miami’s projected surplus for this fiscal year’s upcoming budget will go to the Underline.

The city of Miami, which is home to the longest stretch of the Underline, plans to provide funding for 10 years, according to Cleckley. So far, Miami has committed to paying $1.5 million annually with a 5% cost increase for the next five years, Cleckley said.

The hope is that substantial support from the three cities will be necessary only temporarily and that the county will continue some level of support even as Friends of The Underline increases its fundraising, Daly said.

Gables officials see it as a lifetime ask, and are treating it as such.

“The city has a responsibility to conduct appropriate due diligence, determine whether the proposed services can be delivered more efficiently, and ensure accountability for the use of taxpayer dollars,” Vester, the Gables assistant city manager, wrote in an email to the Underline earlier this week.

The email lays out several of the city’s asks, including more financial transparency, stronger voting power, auditing rights and for the contract to “ensure that the city and other public partners will not be responsible for funding any shortfall if The Underline is unable to secure its anticipated contribution.” Similarly, the city also wants to secure saving opportunities, such as through credits or a lower bill, if Underline fundraisers actually raise more money than expected in the future.

Gables commissioners on Tuesday showed support for the city’s priorities during negotiations, including Lago’s stance to have a year-by-year funding agreement that he says would give the city flexibility and power to review key metrics.

“What we’re trying to do is be good stewards of the city’s money,” Coral Gables City Manager Peter Iglesias told commissioners.

By the end of 2026, the Gables section of the Underline will have four pickleball courts, full and half-court basketball, an outdoor gym, a “microforest,” plazas for community gathering, public art, and free cultural and educational programming, according to Daly. Some of the Coral Gables sections of the Underline are already open, including the new Chewy Bark Park at LeJeune Road.

“This is not a temporary project. This is civic infrastructure with shared responsibility,” Daly told Gables commissioners. “The public will expect and deserves a clean, safe, beautiful and professionally maintained park. That means 24-hour security, 24-hour landscaping, graffiti removal, maintenance of recreational spaces and a visible, welcoming presence every day.”