NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — North Miami Beach commissioners are demanding repayment from Mayor Michael Joseph and were prepared to formally reprimand him over a taxpayer-funded travel upgrade they say should have never been reimbursed.
The dispute centers on a $3,001.90 reimbursement tied to a business class upgrade during a Sept. 14 through 19, 2025 trip to Japan for a Sister Cities program.
City records show the reimbursement was issued Dec. 4, 2025, but a later internal review found the expense fell outside the parameters of Florida law and city policy governing travel spending, according to a letter sent to the mayor.
In that April 1 letter, the city demanded repayment within 30 business days, stating the upgrade was not authorized and must be personally covered.
By the April 21 commission meeting in North Miami Beach, the money still had not been repaid, prompting Vice Mayor Fortuna Smukler to introduce a resolution to reprimand the mayor.
“I brought this forward because the city has been asking for and I’m going to round it up by 10 cents, for $3,002 for a travel upgrade that was never approved when the trip to Japan was approved. It is not something the city has ever done, at least to my knowledge had never done in the past,” Smukler said.
She pressed the mayor directly.
“So Mayor Joseph are you going to pay this back or is this…?”
Joseph said he does not oppose repayment, but objected to how the issue is being handled.
“Well the request was made on the first of April. Then you made this resolution for today for 30 business days. This is related to that investigation. I gave that initial request to my attorney, who said this can have further implications.”
He added he did not want repayment to be seen as an admission of wrongdoing.
“I have no problem putting money in escrow because I have no issues with that, but what I don’t want is to have us make it appear like I am admitting to something that I know I didn’t do,” he said.
Joseph also disputed any suggestion he refused to pay.
“The letter says I refused to pay but that hasn’t even happened,” he said.
Commissioners made clear they believe repayment should have already occurred.
“The point is we shouldn’t have to ask you, you should just pay it back,” Smukler said. “Regardless, it doesn’t matter of the outcome. The money still needs to come back to us.
“Either way the money belongs to the city of North Miami Beach. Either way the money is ours. That’s it.”
Commissioner Phyllis Smith pointed to public reaction.
“What I find to be unsettling is you hear the rumble, you are not deaf,” she said. “You have been out in the public. You hear the rumble of the disdain of spending $3,000, not 30, not 300, but $3,000 on quite a luxury.
“That was something that maybe you should not have done and the public thinks you shouldn’t have done so pay it. Just pay it and be done with this conversation.”
Commissioner Jay Chernoff said the issue comes down to policy.
“We, as commissioners and mayor, know the policy of travel. The policy of travel is to travel in the middle, in coach, not in first class,” he said. “You paid it out of your pocket, I understand. You asked for it to be reimbursed. You should have said no. It was wrong.”
When Joseph questioned that, Chernoff responded, “Technically you have,” later adding the issue is “not paying it back.”
Joseph said he initially paid for the upgrade himself.
“I myself used my Amex card to pay for the upgrade because of the long hours, 14-plus hours between Atlanta and Seoul,” he said. “I paid that up front.”
Joseph said the reimbursement came later after being told it might qualify.
“Then finance tells my aide because it’s a 14-hour flight you can possibly get this reimbursed,” he said. “I’m like whatever, here are the receipts. I get reimbursed.”
Law and policy at issue
Florida law does not explicitly require officials to choose the absolute cheapest airfare, but it does require travel expenses to be authorized, necessary, and reasonable under Florida Statute 112.061.
City policy goes further, requiring the use of the most economical travel options and placing the cost of upgrades for personal convenience on the traveler.
Commissioners said the upgrade was never approved and should not have been submitted for reimbursement.
Questions about the trip
Commissioner Lynn Su said more than $9,000 in taxpayer funds were spent, but she still does not know what was accomplished.
“We don’t have a new sister city. We don’t know what the mayor did while he was in Japan,” Su said, calling the upgrade “excessive luxury under the taxpayers dime.”
Ongoing investigation
Joseph confirmed during the meeting that he is under investigation, though details have not been publicly released.
“This is related to that investigation,” he said.
According to reporting by the Miami Times, an interim investigative report commissioned by the city includes allegations from employees accusing the mayor of bypassing government procedures and attempting to influence procurement decisions.
That report has been referred to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and the Florida Commission on Ethics for further review, and the matter is also being examined by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Public Corruption Unit, according to the same report.
Joseph has denied the allegations and has pushed for the release of supporting documents, arguing the lack of transparency undermines public trust.
Joseph said he intends to repay the money.
“I have no issues, let me be very clear, paying though,” he said.
He later indicated repayment would be made by the end of the month.
Commissioners voted to table the reprimand resolution until then, but made clear their position that the reimbursement was improper and should already have been returned.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
