Pension study defeated
Tags: City pensions and benefits / Diane Mack / Pensacola City Council
Pensacola City Councilwoman Diane Mack’s unfortunate charge for a costly pension study was stopped cold yesterday, as the measure failed on a 4-6 vote. Council members Mack, Jerralds, Cannada-Wynn, and Townsend were those who voted in favour of the $37,000 study.
Unfortunately, Councilwoman Megan Pratt’s suggestions for immediate action on the pension issues also failed on a 5-5 vote.
Inconsistency has been the story of Diane Mack’s tenure thus far on City Council. Ms. Mack campaigned on her budgetary acumen and a promise to be responsible to the taxpayers, yet on numerous occasions, such as her support for extending City fire service to those outside the City, or her support for the expensive and unnecessary pension study, she has endeavoured to be wasteful with public money. Diane Mack likes to talk about the “bad habits” of past Councils. The worst of those habits is the commission of study after study on whatever issue Council doesn’t have the political will to handle. Councilwoman Mack would be well-served to take her own advice, and abandon such habits.
Subscribe to our feed
Get updates via email
Follow us on Twitter
5 councilmembers did not want to look at the pension costs even though the city is 14 million in the hole. Mmmm.
These 5 should save their empty words about representing the taxpayers. Who could believe them?
They should also take a good look at how their trusting staff pulled off the airport lease deal and think twice before rushing another deal through that nobody had time to review .
That’s the plan.
Actually, 6 didn’t want the compensation & benefits study, 5 didn’t want to take immediate action on pensions — actually, it would have been immediate for the few left in the general pension & would likely never happen for police & fire pensions. Council said they wanted input from employees. Employees all supported a study. Then council voted against the study that they originally proposed. Frankly, they don’t know what they want.
They want to bury their heads and not touch the sacred cow – staff.
Where can we order 10 backbones?
Remember the 5% pay raises after Ivan when staff was displaced and needed their morale boosted. What next?
Council moved city staff back to the same building so that next hurricane taxpayers can deal with a fragmented city government displaced to rented quarters again
and
don’t forget the 5% for staff.
City employees haven’t received pay increases for a couple of years & won’t receive pay increases for the next two. Their health insurance costs have increased each year. Their deferred compensation accounts have dropped along with the stock market. They won’t receive social security benefits when they retire. You fault the council for granting a 5% pay increase after hurricane Ivan? You clearly forget the work these employees did during that time and how the city was cleaned up much sooner than the county. I’ll stay in the city and continue to pay a little more for the value of services I receive by living here. You can move to the county & have a volunteer fire department and deputies who respond in a few hours rather than a few minutes.
James you clearly have a dog in this fight.
Don’t stoop to the staff retaliation if you don’t like it move to the county routine- City hall is supposed to be an operation.
As to increases in health insurance and decreases in raises- and losses in investmements. JOIN THE REALITY CLUB.
Good luck finding a company in this town that has given a 5% increase in one year.
I don’t want volunteer fire department and I don’t want to provide our professional firefighters for FREE to the county either.
What most of us want is a reality check at city hall .
To expect city hall to operate in some fashion that resembles a business operation and not a dream world .
Frank — You’re wrong. I’m in the FRS so it doesn’t matter to me what the city does to their employees, other than I think that the city should honor their commitment to employees. If the state decides to reduce the FRS benefit, I think that reduction should apply to new employees & not current employees. Why should city council members treat city employees worse than that?
I have paid in 11 percent of my paltry check to the fire pension for 20 years. I didnt do that to get an “OK” retirement, it was done so that I could afford to enjoy my retirement years. People seem to want us to have private sector benefits for city pay….it wont work. The sad thing is , I can promise you that the men and women of the PFD will still give you the shirts off of their backs no matter how bad you cut their throats. They are that kind of people and I’m proud to work with them.
Would the council members be willing to take the same away from their retirement packages where they work as a show of support? Dont answer…we already know that one.