OAKLAND PARK, Fla. -- Commissioners have cut back "unsustainable" pension benefits to city firefighters, although they said the reductions would not apply to any employee within seven years of being eligible to retire.
The commission took the action during a public hearing Wednesday to resolve a contract impasse with the firefighters union.
In setting the parameters for a three-year contract, commissioners also approved a 1 percent pay increase next July and no increase in the contract's second year. They left any decision on a potential third-year increase to later negotiations.
Commissioners split 3-2 on the pension portion of the contract, which tried to find a middle ground between the city's position and the union's proposal, with both sides offering savings to the city.
The commission's decisions now go to the union for ratification. If the union does not approve the changes, then the commission's next step is to vote on imposing them on the union.
The union had offered to raise the minimum retirement age six years to 48, for someone with 20 years of service, and to reduce the maximum pension possible from the current 85 percent of salary to 75 percent. The union proposal would have applied to all current employees, even those nearing retirement.
"We looked at this as we're all in this together," said John McNamara, president of Local 3080 of the Metro-Broward Professional Firefighters union.
City officials sought a retirement age of 52 for someone with 25 years of service, 55 for someone with at least 10 years of service, and a maximum possible pension equal to 65 percent of salary. The changes did not apply to employees eligible to retire within seven years.
Commissioners Jed Shank and Suzanne Boisvenue supported the union's position, while Mayor Anne Sallee and Commissioner Shari McCartney preferred the city position.
Vice Mayor John Adornato sought a middle position, which Sallee and McCartney ultimately supported. They raised the retirement age to 52 as requested by the city, with 55 being the normal retirement age, but set the maximum pension at 70 percent of salary.
"I don't think 55 is that old right now," Sallee said. "We're not talking about making people work until they're totally arthritic from head to toe."
The commissioners agreed to base the pension on the highest three consecutive years of salary, not the highest five consecutive years preferred by city administration. They also continued a deferred retirement plan that the administration wanted to abolish, but reduced the number of years for that plan from five to three.
McNamara said commissioners "kicked the can down the road" regarding pension reform, because the approved plan leaves pensions the same for 42 percent of current employees -- 25 of 59.
"They thought they were doing the right thing by protecting employees within seven years of retirement," McNamara said. "How can something so 'unaffordable' and so 'unsustainable' be given to almost half your department?"
Copyright 2012 - Sun Sentinel
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
