The Miami Herald reported this morning that Miami-Dade's county attorney got a big raise in a divided vote, with some commissioners saying the time is not right for government pay hikes. First, let me say, it is time for tightening the County belt. The commissioners who voted against this were right: Carlos Gimenez, Rebeca Sosa, Katy Sorenson, Sally Heyman and Audrey Edmonson. We are headed for tough times and Carlos Gimenez has been sounding the alarm on our esculating bond debt. The shit is going to hit the fan but nobody listens, most of the Commissioners are oblivious. The revenues collected are going to be cut sharply. This raise is a case in point. HE DIDN'T NEED A RAISE HE IS ALREADY COLLECTING A $70,000 COUNTY PENSION!!! He was retired for God's sake! There are plenty of qualified attorneys that would work for plenty less than his $350,000 (Estimated with raise). Most county residents make less than his pension alone.
It is not so much the raise, as the way Cuevas has engineered, with Commissioners' knowledge, his retirement and rehire (which is to his benefit and not the taxpayers at all). He is collecting a $70,000 pension ON TOP OF about $350,000 with benefits. The Herald details:
“Still, Cuevas' compensation will be modest compared to his earnings in 2007 -- when, with more than $423,000 in accumulated sick time, he pocketed $720,382. The attorney was able to earn that amount because, before taking the county's top legal job a little over a year ago, he took a brief leave of absence, officially retiring.
That not only allows Cuevas to collect a $70,000 annual pension on top of his salary this year, it enabled him to secure a lump sum payment for all the sick time he'd accumulated since joining the county in 1970.”
Miami Dade County Commissioner Natacha Seijas, according to the Miami Herald:
...took an indirect swipe at Murray Greenberg, the longtime county attorney who Cuevas served under. She called Cuevas “a loyal, loyal second to a person who only did us harm."
Greenberg didn’t deserve that, he did no harm, he just wouldn’t let her do whatever she wanted by pointing out the illegality of her actions. Cuevas must do a lot of bending over to the commissioners that pushed hard for this increase, on top of a pension.
P.S. I am putting this comment as a postscript as it is not mine but very interesting if true:
Read the comments in The Herald, it's not $70,000/yr his pension but $150,000. $70,000 is a partial payment of his annual pension. And then he gets re-hired and increases his income to close to $800,000/yr. What has he done for the commissioners that the public doesn't know?
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Read the comments in The Herald, it's not $70,000/yr his pension but $150,000. $70,000 is a partial payment of his annual pension. And then he gets re-hired and increases his income to close to $800,000/yr. What has he done for the commissioners that the public doesn't know?
He does what ever they want. If Natacha wants to keep him let her pay his raise out of her money. What a bunch of crooks we have here!
Picture of VNS makes her look airbrushed compared to her appearance yesterday, I thought it was still October 31.
i play around with her photos in photoshop to drive her nuts. i am always on the lookout for bad photos of her if you have one....
My understanding is that County Pensions pay 70% of the best year. Cuevas pension is way higher than $70K per year... It is much closer to $150K... I am disappointed that Moss stayed with the crowd on this one. We need to send a message that this is not to be tolerated.
This might be my favorite photo of Natacha.
County pensions are paid and administered by the Florida Retirement System. For 30 years of service, your pension is calculated at 48% of the average of your highest five years salary. So if the average of his five years salary is $250,000, his pension is $120,000.
Looks like we should all get a county job.
The know-it-all anon who said "for 30 years of service, your pension is calculated at 48% of the average of your highest five years salary" ... is incorrect in Cuevas' case.
It's true that for most county government pensioners, their pension would be about 49% of the avg of their 5 highest years. But that assumes the pensioner is in the FRS "Regular Class." Cuevas DID NOT retire in the "Regular Class." He retired as a member of the FRS "Senior Management Service Class (SMSC)" which entitles him to a much higher percentage of his top 5 years as a pension, closer to about 70%. The other classes of FRS pensioners who get similarly high percentages are: Special Risk Class (generally police, fire and corrections), Special Risk Administrative Support Class, and (you guess it) the Elected Officers Class.
So why did the Herald report Cuevas' pension incorrectly? The reporter, Chuck Rabin, probably took the lazy way out and relied on Cuevas for that info rather than check directly with Tallahassee. I bet Cuevas simply said that he would get $70,000 total this year in pension money and Rabin didn't know to ask if it would be the same next year.
Rabin also missed that huge tax free $36,000 annual personal expense allowance the County Attorney receives similar to the $24,000 allowance the commissioners pay themselves. Former County Attorneys Ginsburg and Greenburg both got that money so I would bet the house that Cuevas is getting it now too. Because no receipts are needed, that expense allowance is a form of salary and an obvious attempt to circumvent the charter's $6,000 salary cap for commissioners. One could surmise that the inclusion of the County Attorney in the BCC's "no receipts personal expense allowance" scam is nothing more than a quid pro quo arrangement so that the County Attorney will take the legal opinion that the expense money is not compensation and therefore does not violate the charter. Never mind that a conflict of interest exists when the County Attorney rules on a BCC expense allowance that he gets, too.
So now does everyone understand why the BCC was so eager to give Cuevas a raise?
Great post.
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