Miami-Dade voters remove mayor

MIAMI – Mayor Carlos Alvarez was ousted Tuesday by voters angry over a property tax rate increase and salary raise for county employees in a county struggling to recover from the recession.

With 100 percent of precinct votes counted, 88 percent voted to oust the mayor, making Miami-Dade the most populous area, with more than 2.5 million people, ever to recall a local official.

Just 12 percent of the 204,500 who cast ballots were in favor of allowing Alvarez to finish his second term, which ends in 2012.

The county commission will most likely schedule a special election to fill the remainder of his term. The effort to remove Alvarez was led by billionaire car dealer Norman Braman, a former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles football team.

Alvarez maintained throughout the recall effort that raising taxes was necessary to fill a $444 million gap and avoid cuts to critical social services.