Budget spares police officers and firefighters, for now

While Carlos Gimenez campaigned for Miami-Dade County mayor he vowed to reduce the bloated county government. He made it clear that he planned to cut hundreds of millions of dollars including getting rid of jobs and reducing workers' paychecks.

But there were two jobs that Gimenez and his opponent, former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, said would remain protected: They pledged not to lay off police officers or firefighters, the Miami Herald reported.

The county budget, approved by commissioners Sept. 23, 2011, did include layoffs -- it cut about 639 filled positions -- but none were for sworn police officers or firefighters. The budget for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1 included cutting about 252 positions in the police department and 173 in the fire department, but those positions were for civilians or were vacant.

That said, Gimenez, a former Miami firefighter and fire chief, has thrown down the gauntlet for weeks by threatening that if the unions don't agree to about $239 million in concessions, more layoffs would occur. And many of those layoffs could come from police and fire.

He addressed the potential for layoffs on Oct. 5 while attending an event at police headquarters in Doral. 

When a reporter for WFOR-CBS4 asked Gimenez what would happen if negotiations with the Police Benevolent Association fail, Gimenez said that layoff notices would be sent out around Oct. 17 and if an agreement isn't reached, 90 police officers would be laid off about three weeks later, Gimenez spokeswoman Suzy Trutie said.  The Herald reported about Gimenez's layoff plan Oct. 6:

"Gimenez told county commissioners Tuesday he plans to begin declaring impasse in negotiations next week with at least several of the 10 unions if agreements aren't reached. The parties could choose to go before a special magistrate or skip that step and go directly to the county commission, which ultimately decides on county labor pacts. The county has proposed an 8 percent pay cut for most workers, but has allowed unions to devise their own proposals for achieving cost savings. As part of those cuts, the county is pressing employees to give back pay increases handed out in the last contracts. In most cases, those increases totaled 3 percent, but for police officers, the increases were much higher, totaling about 13 percent. That means police are being pressed for the biggest givebacks."

The subject at the Oct. 5 event was about police officers since the event was at police headquarters. But Trutie said that the county is negotiating with all 10 unions and that means firefighters are in the same boat although she did not have a number for how many firefighters could face layoffs. 

Gimenez has said that he would first target specialized units and wants to spare officers who respond to 911 calls.

"On the street level, those services are not going to be affected," Gimenez told the Herald. "We'll do layoffs up to the level we can do them without affecting public safety."

John Rivera, president of the Miami-Dade PBA, said the union is scheduled to next meet with the county Oct. 12. The officers facing layoffs include those who have been with the department up to three years, Rivera said.

Gimenez did not propose laying off sworn officers or firefighters in the budget that commissioners approved Sept. 23 -- an important step toward his goal of avoiding layoffs for those employees. But he has said if concessions aren't reached police officers could lose their jobs and it's clear that firefighters face the same plight -- the outcome of that battle will become more clear by Nov. 1. For now we rate this promise In the Works.