Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Public Hearing At County: Meeting Over Whether to Over-ride the Mayor's Veto. By Geniusofdespair



Over-riding the Mayor's veto...public hearing is going on as I write. I have listened to a lot of sad, heart tugging stories over the past hour.

2:00 P.M. There was a couple of hours of public statements -- mostly from the police.

After the public hearing Gimenez made a second speech, -- this is a link to the video of the second more interesting speech. From discussions, it seemed like the Commissioners were going to vote on an alternate deal they were going to concoct themselves. Barbara Jordan appointed herself to this task. I thought I would barf at this point so I shut it off. This was painful to watch as usual. The pay cut or layoffs proposed by the Mayor to balance the budget didn't sit well with unions or county commissioners. Expect a compromise.

9pm: I was right a compromise it was, I can read these commissioners after only a couple of minutes.

16 comments:

L said...

Heart tugging? Huh? You mean listening to police officers whine about their nonexistent pay cuts?

While those of us in the private sector have had to do more with less, the police will have a net INCREASE in salary even with this new deduction.

March 2010 – All MDPD police began paying the 5% health insurance deduction
September 2010 – All MDPD police received a one step 5% increase in pay
July 2011 - All MDPD police received a 3% wage increase
September 2011 – All MDPD police received an additional one step 5% increase in pay
January 2012 - Proposed additional 5% health insurance deduction

Net pay Increase for all MDPD police if the proposed deduction is approved = +3%

Source: PBA Contract Bullet Points 2008-2011
http://www.dcpba.org/ip.asp?op=cbupdate

Anonymous said...

once again, your buddy joe martinez is presiding over a political circus. martinez continued to suck up to pba thug john rivera while rivera engages in hours of whining and sarcasm. it made me wretch.

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy!!!! Now I pay 9% for health insurance I'm not eligible for. Yeah I'm riding the gravy train on $10 a hour working part-time. At least I get a merit increase this year... oh wait what's that... I'm on step 99 and aren't eligible for a merit increase.Can't wait for my golden parachute to open up...OPEN YOUR EYES PEOPLE!!! It's feast or famine in the county. Everyone either makes over $100,000 or there like me part time schmucks making $10 a hour. Who stands up for me?

Anonymous said...

L,
you the same guy/gal who keeps spewing wrong information all over the Herald website too?

Exact same statements over and over. At least get your facts straight. Geez.

L said...

My facts are right on target. Did you hear Gimenez read Rivera's 2010 email in which he crowed about a net 13% increase? I am so happy that Rivera and the rest of the PBA crybabies lost.

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

Anonymous said...

Compromise of 4% and raid a trust fund the vote:

Commissioners Lynda Bell, Esteban Bovo, Audrey Edmonson, Sally Heyman, Barbara Jordan, Dennis Moss and Rebeca Sosa voted for the compromise. Chairman Joe Martinez and Commissioners Bruno Barreiro, Jose “Pepe” Diaz, Jean Monestime, Javier Souto and Xavier Suarez voted against.

The pivotal vote came from Jordan, the only commissioner to switch sides after having opposed Gimenez’s extra 5-percent contribution on Jan. 5.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/24/2605470/save-our-jobs-workers-tell-miami.html#storylink=cpy

Anonymous said...

I watched a bunch of the meeting but not all of it. The compromise is that instead of paying an additional 5% for health care, the PBA, GSAF and the other laggard unions will pay 4%. And, the insurance fund set up to cover ALL insured county employees will subsidize the laggard union collective bargaining agreements? Lesson learned: hold out, make a stink and the commission will ease the pain by taking from the rest of the employees. Anyone else see this as a bad idea?

Anonymous said...

What the police officers need to do is get together and hire an attorney. It's unconstitutional to make you pay for their insurance. You should be able to go out and buy your own insurance and you will not be paying 700.00 a month or more for it. We are still in America and you have the right to buy your own insurance instead paying that higher premiums to the county.

Oh and this is for L. Can't wait till you need the assistance of a police officer guess what you just have to sit and wait your turn you get what you pay for...

I would love to see the contract that my husband signed that stipulates that you must get the county insurance that's a bunch if BS....

Something is missing said...

L:
While those of us in the private sector have had to do more with less, the police will have a net INCREASE in salary even with this new deduction.

March 2010 – All MDPD police began paying the 5% health insurance deduction
September 2010 – All MDPD police received a one step 5% increase in pay
July 2011 - All MDPD police received a 3% wage increase
September 2011 – All MDPD police received an additional one step 5% increase in pay
January 2012 - Proposed additional 5% health insurance deduction

Net pay Increase for all MDPD police if the proposed deduction is approved = +3%


You know what is missing? The give-backs the police gave. This list doesn't show the 3% to the state, the 5% already given, the car allowance payments, the uniform assistance payment cut, flex fund take away, the night differential take away, the holiday pay take away (which regular companies pay at over time rates), the step increase freezes and I don't know what else. I am not a cop, I just have been following this.

Martinez brought up some good points.

Yes, the county employees can opt out of coverage, but they still have to pay the premium every check.

No, you can't add your spouse to your insurance and take the lower rate if they are county employees. Well, you can add them to your policy, but they still have pay their own 9%, so you would be paying for insurance 3 times if you did that.

So, MDC now has a"Honey" penalty: if you have a honey who is a county employee you get to pay 2x as much for insurance as the employee whose honey works elsewhere and is added onto their coverage.

The commissioners were mulling over what caused the unusual increase in the insurance costs this first quarter... I bet everyone of the county employees have decided if they are going to pay through the nose for insurance, they are sure as heck going to use it, so guess who has been going to the doctor and the dentist?

Anonymous said...

When the blood starts spilling in Dade county the lawsuits against the county will really put a damper on the budget.

The criminals are rejoicing tonight because they know that every police officer in the county will do less from today forward. Come in punch the card and get to answering those calls at the pace of a turtle...it's sad but some innocent citizens will have to pay with their lives for the injustice committed toddy.

What normal human will go above and beyond the cell of duty when you have taken 28 percent of their pay... I

The criminals now have a great play yard. Have fun guys all I know us I will be packing 24/7 Shoot first ask questions later.

Their is a reason the mayor wants to hire firefighters this town will be a war zone he needs somebody to put the fire out and scrape the dead bodies He is an idiot and has no idea what he is doing....

I don't think there is one PO out there that will come to his rescue when he really needs it

Anonymous said...

"L" is profoundly misinformed.

Anonymous said...

Just read this in the Herald comments section:

Silvia Nadal, 36, held up a photo of her two children and a sonogram, telling commissioners she is five months pregnant and had received a pink slip.“I already lost my house ... I got injured on the job,” she said. “What else can I give?”

This is the same police officer that is married to another cop. Sounds like she can't budget herself no matter how much her and her husband make. When two police officers, with a combined income of over $150,000 annually, lose their home, what world do they think the rest of us $40,000 to $60,000 average workers live in? It must be really tough parking their two take home police cars in an apartment parking lot.

By the way, why would she need to show a sonogram to Commissioners showing she is five months pregrnant anyway? She needs to blame her husband and herself for her "condition".

Anonymous said...

Stop invoking fear into the residents. Police officers whose dedication to the job is based solely on their paycheck aren't real police officers. They're government employees in police uniforms. If MDPD police officers want to do less to allow residents to "feel their pain" they will simply be replaced by police forces that can do the same job for the same amount of pay. It works successfully in areas such as Pinecrest, Aventura, Doral, Key Biscayne, Miami Gardens, Sunny Isles Beach which used to be patrolled by MDPD.

Just accept that you took a 10% raise in the midst of a recession and tax increase and had to give some of it back. The former police director/mayor said that the tax increase was to keep essential services and prevent the layoffs of employees. Even with the cuts to pay, I'm sure the take home amount is still higher now than it was two years ago. Can all county employees say the same?

milly, hialeah said...

How can an employee pay if they do not have health insurance coverage with the county?

They are never going to balance the budget until there is fairness and honesty, and each employee negotiates his/her salary and benefits individually. Then, government has to address the high paid salary employees and reduce those wages - and get rid of the 5 deputy mayors.

Until then, it's not going to get fixed and the county is opening itself up for lawsuits. The lawyers are going to have a field day in court!

Anonymous said...

To the idiot that quoted the incorporated cities wake up and smell the coffee those area are #1 little to no crime area and #2 and most importantly backed up daily by the MDPD. That will soon come to and end.

In order to get fired you really need to screw up.. No one said they will not work. They will just take their time from call to call after all officer safety first and they have to be thouroough and that takes time. The calls will have to hold..,

Cant wait to see the response time reports a few months from today...that's why we need to ARM ourselves to protect ourselves. I have 3 daughters between 18-25 and I have bought guns for all of us. My motto is if you feel for ur life is in danger shoot first ask questions later. Don't bother calling cops just today my friend called the police because a stranger was in her back yard looking thru the windows it took 28 minutes for PO to respond this BTW was in Pinecrest.

And it's not intimidation u idiot it's reality.

In the past an officer would go out of their way when they are off duty 24/7 that in itself helps keep the crime rate low but now they will turn their heads if they did not see it they simply did not see it... How can you prove that...

I see a the Brown Flu heading our way.... If your sick your sick who can say otherwise .... If you have a couple hundred cops call in sick per day . The criminals know this and they are ready to play ...

It's sad but it is what it is .

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, it's all about who you know at the County. Amidst all the pay cuts and previous layoffs the Seaport is hiring new people everyday....I thought there was a hiring freeze at the County and if a department needed to fill a position then they needed to select from the list of people who were laid off.
But somehow that is not the case at the Seaport....