By Brittany Wallman
Sun-Sentinel
Copyright 2007 Sun-Sentinel Company
All Rights Reserved
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Police officers and firefighter-paramedics crowded the courtyard outside City Hall on Tuesday, urging elected officials to approve a budget that would improve their benefits and help retain employees.
The officers wore blue T-shirts that read, “Will the last one to quit please turn out the lights.”
Firefighters wore red.
Both sides said they’re losing good employees to other Florida agencies that pay better or promise more comfortable retirements.
Former Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro was among the speakers pleading with commissioners to increase police benefits.
“Those are not police officers,” he said. “They’re soldiers. And they’re on the front lines. They’re engaged in the longest war we’ve ever had: the war on crime.”
Outside the chambers, cheers and applause rang out from the ranks of police.
Commissioners approved the $536.2 million total budget without addressing the employees’ requests, because collective bargaining negotiations are ongoing.
Only Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom voted against the budget.
The city went further in its property tax cuts than required by the state Legislature’s tax reform package. While the budget is larger than last year’s, the amount provided by property taxes was reduced, resulting in savings on tax bills for many.
Union officials, though, said they wondered why the city cut more than it had to, when it could use the money to retain employees.
“The city, sitting on a $50 million reserve, is claiming they have very little to give us,” said fire Lt. Dave Carter, who said firefighters want health care benefits equal to that of police. “We’ve evolved from being a first class department to being a training department” where employees learn and leave.
The city has six employee collective bargaining contracts. All of them expire Oct. 1.
Money for employee pay and benefits is included in the budget commissioners approved Tuesday night, but employees don’t know how much they’ll get until contract negotiating sessions come to a close.
Tuesday, the city announced it had come to terms with its largest union, the Teamsters, which represents about 1,100 general employees. That union agreed to give up a pension benefit, one of the key budget issues officials are beginning to worry about across the state.
New employees under the Teamsters will get a flat 9 percent of their base pay in a “defined benefit” pension plan, rather than leaving the city responsible for shoring up pension funds that lose money on investments. The employees have to ratify the contract and then the City Commission must approve it.
Police and fire employees want a guaranteed annual cost-of-living increase in their retirement plans, a sticking point in negotiations.
Police union officials say the department is losing an average of six officers every month. They also say Fort Lauderdale officers have the lowest salaries in the county.
The department has scores of rookie officers and has hired upward of 200 officers in the past 21/2 years, FOP union President Jack Lokeinsky said Tuesday.
Police Chief Bruce Roberts said half the officers who left retired, some were fired, some moved and some went to other agencies.
“It’s a national issue,” he said, “All departments are having trouble keeping people. ... We’ll get through it.”
Another item on Tuesday’s agenda was the spending of $11,520 to place recruitment ads in American Police Beat Magazine.