Under Florida law, a city that has declared a state of ‘fiscal urgency’ is entitled to cut pay to employees despite contracts, as well as change retirement, pensions, and benefit formulas for all employees. If the city does decides to declare the fiscal urgency, it will be the second consecutive year that the city has done so. Other cities that have taken the same step have imposed severe cuts on their employees, and Hollywood, Florida, is considering cutting pay to firefighters by as much as 12 percent.
Miami is carrying a $61 million deficit.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Miami, facing a $61 million fiscal 2012 deficit, declared a state of “financial urgency” for a second-straight year, moving toward wage and benefit cuts.
The declaration gives unions for municipal workers two weeks to agree to contracts for the year that starts in October or be subject to actions imposed by the City Commission. Workers including police and firefighters absorbed about $80 million in reduced pay, health insurance and pensions in fiscal 2011.
Read the full article here.