Gimenez in high-stakes battle with commission over budget

Talk about eerie timing -- on Friday the 13th of January, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez started sending pink slips to hundreds of county workers, including 118 police officers. (Here's a sample lay off notice.)

During his 2011 campaign for county mayor, Gimenez promised not to lay off police officers or firefighters. 

He seemed on track to keep that promise thanks to actions from the county commission in 2011. In November, the county commission signed off on a contract with firefighters that averted layoffs. In December, the commission voted in favor of a contract with the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association that avoided layoffs but left open one key issue: whether to force police officers to pay more toward health insurance.

Then, on Jan. 5, 2012, county commissioners voted 7-6 against requiring police officers and corrections officers to pay an extra 5 percent toward health care, doubling their contribution. (Commissioners also rejected a similar hike for employees represented by the Government Supervisors Association of Florida.) That left an estimated budget gap of about $35 million -- about half related to the PBA.

During the campaign, Gimenez made it clear that he would seek concessions from unions to reduce the chance of layoffs.

"The more you get concessions from labor the fewer people that you are going to have to lay off," he told the Miami Herald editorial board May 4, 2011.

On Jan. 11, Gimenez vetoed that health care vote. The commission is expected to respond to Gimenez's vetoes at its Jan. 24 meeting and needs a two-thirds vote to override Gimenez's vetoes. 

If the commission overrides the veto, the county won't impose the extra 5 percent contribution and the layoffs will occur, said county spokeswoman Suzy Trutie in an e-mail. If the commission doesn't override the veto, they still have to resolve the impasse and layoffs remain a possibility.

In addition to the 118 police facing layoffs, 17 in corrections also face layoffs. About 282 people represented by the Government Supervisors Association across various departments were also expected to face layoffs. Once the notices are issued, actual layoffs will not occur until 21 days later. (Read more about the layoffs in the Miami Herald.)

We should note that Gimenez discussed his promise not to lay off police officers in detail during a June 7, 2011, debate on WMBM-AM (1490) radio station in the final weeks of the campaign. 

We obtained a recording of the radio debate to see how Gimenez worded his promise during a discussion about budget cuts and the police and fire departments:

Moderator Jim Defede (CBS-4 reporter): "Are you saying that under your administration if you were mayor you will not lay off any police officers and you will not close any fire stations?"

Gimenez: "Yeah, I will not close any fire stations."

DeFede: "And laying off police officers?"

Gimenez: "I'm not laying off any police officers. That's correct. But police officers and fire stations -- now remember there is more to those departments than police officers and firefighters. ... There are a lot of people behind desks that should be on the street."

(For a debate refresher check out CBS-4's video and written article.) 

The Miami Herald later paraphrased Gimenez and his opponent Julio Robaina as saying that "they pledged to maintain services and not lay off police officers or firefighters." PolitiFact originally wrote this promise as "not lay off police officers or firefighters." PolitiFact is changing the promise to not lay off police officers or close fire stations, because that more precisely reflects Gimenez's comments and theoretically the county could close a station without layoffs. 

Gimenez promised not to layoff police officers or close fire stations. He kept his promise about not closing fire stations but has started the process to lay off police officers. Gimenez is now on track to break half of this promise but we may not know the outcome until the 21-day period expires. Because the situation is uncertain, the rating remains In the Works.