‘It is not self dealing’: Miami commissioners vote to give themselves pensions
A divided Miami City Commission voted Thursday to give themselves pensions, moving one step closer to reviving a frozen taxpayer-funded program that guaranteed elected officials thousands of dollars a month for the rest of their lives after they leave office. The pension program was suspended more than a decade ago during the financial crisis.
The proposal, approved on first reading, will need to come back before the commission for final approval.
Under the proposal, Miami elected officials will become eligible to receive a pension either after starting their seventh year of service and once they’ve turned 62, or after 10 years of service and once they’ve turned 60. The pension amount will be equal to one-half of their highest compensation with the city, with annual 5% increases until it is equal to 100% of what their compensation was while in office.
The officials will also be entitled to a 3% cost of living increase each year after they begin collecting their pension. A previous version of the proposal from June did not include the annual 3% bump.
READ MORE: Miami commissioners try to resurrect pensions for elected officials — again
The proposal, sponsored by Commissioners Christine King and Miguel Angel Gabela, was approved by a 3-2 vote. Commissioners Manolo Reyes and Damian Pardo voted no.
“It really comes across as self dealing. We’re passing this for ourselves,” Pardo said.
King pushed back, saying commissioners can individually decide against participating in the pension program.
“It is not self dealing. I don’t agree with that at all,” King said.
The city’s current elected officials will have 10 days to choose to opt into the program, and once they do, the decision is “irrevocable,” according to the proposal. The official waives their right to the benefit if they don’t opt in within the window.
“You don’t have to take it,” King added, referring to the pension, “and that’s the beauty of this legislation if you’re not in favor of it. But you don’t have to decide what it best for not only this body, but commissioners to come.”
Miami city commissioners are classified as part-time officials. But both King and Gabela argued that the job is demanding enough that the workload is akin to that of a full-time job.
“This is a 24/7 — sometimes more — job,” King said.
Pardo suggested sending the question to voters in November — an idea that the commission entertained briefly but ultimately shot down.
Commissioner Joe Carollo said that not every decision needs to go to a citywide vote, “otherwise we would never finish a lot of the work that we have.”
Carollo joined King and Gabela in voting for the pensions. But he noted during the discussion that the vote doesn’t necessarily affect him. Carollo, who was first elected to the City Commission in 1979 and served two terms as mayor until 2001, was already receiving a pension from the city. Once Carollo returned to elected office in 2017, his payments were suspended until the end of his current term, according to an analysis completed last month.
The analysis provided the following pension estimates based on the current elected officials’ compensation and years served in office:
Mayor Francis Suarez: $10,371 per month, or $124,452 per year
District 1 Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela: $4,813 per month, or $57,756 per year
District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo: $4,813 per month, or $57,756 per year
District 3 Commissioner Joe Carollo: $8,750 per month, or $105,000 per year
District 4 Commissioner Manolo Reyes: $5,688 per month, or $68,256 per year
District 5 Commissioner Christine King: $4,813 per month, or $57,756 per year
The following former Miami elected officials currently receive a pension from the city in the following amounts, according to the city analysis:
Manny Diaz: $6,875 per month, or $82,500 per year
Angel Gonzalez: $4,794 per month, or $57,528 per year
Wilfredo “Willy” Gort: $8,488 per month, or $101,856 per year
Tomás Regalado: $7,046, or $84,552 per year
Joe Sanchez: $6,283, or $75,396 per year
Marc Sarnoff: $5,039, or $60,468 per year
Michelle Spence-Jones: $10,601, or $127,212 per year
As the Herald reported in 2022, Spence-Jones collects the largest pension of any elected official in the city’s retirement system.
