President’s Letter May

If misery does indeed love company, Broward County has lots of reasons to
celebrate. No one is alone in dealing with budget issues. In fact, from sea
to shining sea, governments are talking about many different ways to deal
with unprecedented fiscal crises—including layoffs and pay cuts. We here
in Broward are seeing the effects in all of our contract negotiations. In these
negotiations, our members must take into consideration the financial climate
of the country, state, counties and cities when negotiating.
By the time you receive this issue of The Centurion, the legislative session
will have ended in Tallahassee; we hope it ended with the PBA being successful
in protecting our pensions. The official end date to is April 30th, but I
have seen that final day end early and many times I have seen it last into the
early hours of the morning on May 1st.
During the week of April 5 PBA Secretary Rod Skirvin and I were in Tallahassee
for the Legislative session. On April 7, we appeared before the Senate
Community Affairs Committee for Senate Bill 1902, whose sponsor was
Senator Bennett, the Chairman of that committee. The bill would require
that a retirement system or plan include in its actuarial report; a projection of
the employer’s annual required contributions and an experience study; limits
the benefit payable to a member of a retirement system or plan who has not
attained 10 years of service by July 1, 2010; and revises the calculations used
for upgrading a special risk member’s contributions for past service. The entire
front row of the committee room was taken up by the PBA and firefighters.
We sat waiting for a little over two hours until the bill came up; it was
the last bill called. Senator Bennett said that with all the proposed bills that
change retirement issues, perhaps it would be better if they were discussed
over the summer. With that, he adjourned the meeting. This does not do
anything to the bill, which can still be brought up at any time.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lisa Aronson, Mayor of Coconut
Creek, for inviting the PBA to attend a meeting of the Economic Issues
Committee, Union Relationship/Negotiations Subcommittee of the Broward
League of Cities. PBA Secretary Rod Skirvin and I attended. While this does
not exactly sound exciting, it is a big deal. Never, in all my years with the
PBA, have we ever been invited to attend anything that involved the League
of Cities. In Tallahassee, whenever the Florida League of Cities sees a bill
sponsored by the PBA, they are immediately against it. So this, in and of
itself, was PBA history.
The life of a law enforcement Officer is not for everyone. We come from
different backgrounds with different experiences and ultimately we all make
the decision to join the finest profession in the world for different reasons. I
thank each and every one of you and your families for your sacrifices, hard
work, and the risks you take everyday.
Also please keep those who are serving in the United States Armed Forces in
your thoughts and prayers. God bless and be safe.