Miami-Dade averts police layoffs

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced Aug. 28, 2014, that a proposal to layoff police officers was off the table.

When he unveiled his budget proposal July 8, Gimenez proposed eliminating about 228 sworn police positions, leading to a much publicized battle with the Police Benevolent Association.

Gimenez's proposal put his 2011 campaign promise to not lay off police officers in jeopardy, so we rated his promise Stalled in July.

Gimenez threatened the layoffs as he tried to get the police union to pay more for health care. Gimenez reduced the number of proposed layoffs by about half later in the summer, but several county commissioners indicated they would not vote for a budget that laid off police officers.

On Aug. 28, Gimenez held a press conference to announce that he had found $9 million in new revenue to avoid layoffs. The money comes from from selling county rescue helicopters and switching to leased arrangements, and from Jackson Health System's recent decision to leave the county's health care fund and create its own insurance program.

It's possible that about 40 civilians in the police department will face layoffs, but that number could decline. Many of those civilian employees are members of unions that have recently reached tentative agreements with Gimenez.

The Miami Herald reported that Gimenez's announcement cancelling the proposed layoffs came two days after the police union helped Daniella Levine Cava oust commissioner Lynda Bell, who backed Gimenez's plan to seek concessions from all the county unions.

The Police Benevolent Association and Miami-Dade County haven't resumed contract negotiations so it's unclear if the union will ultimately make any concessions.

The County Commission held an initial budget hearing Sept. 4 and will finalize the $6.2 billion budget Sept. 18. While some commissioners fought with Gimenez over certain aspects in his budget proposal -- including his plan to buy police body cameras -- the commission supports his decision to take layoffs for sworn officers off the table.

We rate this Promise Kept.