The latest rendition of pension reform made it past the City Council Rules Committee by a 5-2 vote Monday, setting up another vote today with the Finance Committee.
From there, it would be the biggest stage next Tuesday before the full council — the place where the past several deals have gone to die.
This version has been pitched by council member Bill Gulliford, who is pushing reform before July 1 when council and mayoral leadership switches. He voted against the most recent deal, which died on a 9-9 vote but had just a few sticking points.
The latest is a compromise, albeit still a work in progress, as it heads toward a potential final vote. But not everyone is on board.
Voting for the bill Monday in Rules were Gulliford, Warren Jones, Stephen Joost, Robin Lumb and Don Redman. Lumb and Redman made a disclaimer, though — they were voting for it in committee, but that didn’t guarantee their support next week.
The two against the bill were Lori Boyer and Matt Schellenberg, both of whom shared concerns about the deal not being three years — the timeframe typically mandated for collective bargaining.
Additionally, they were concerned the deal might go against Circuit Judge Tom Beverly’s ruling that the 30-year agreement that laid out benefits for public safety employees was voided.
“Let’s get to it and get to the collective bargaining process,” Boyer said at the meeting. “There is no reason not to do that.”
Joost replied while Boyer made a solid argument, the Beverly ruling didn’t mention the benefits that were negotiated, which led to his support.
And he was willing to take the risk, even though a lawsuit over the deal is being threatened by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County.
Gulliford told the committee that after four years, it was time to make a decision. He said he wasn’t “naive” enough to think the 11 new members taking office July 1 could handle impasse over the issue, should it come to that.
The right decision is a winner, he said, while the wrong decision means knowing it didn’t work. No decision, he contended, is “the worst possible posture you can be in.”
“I don’t have an easy answer to this,” he said.
Changes in this version of reform include:
• The deal being seven years instead of 10 years as the March deal contained. The Police and Fire Pension Fund board had been adamant about the decade-long length, but fund administrator John Keane has said seven was workable. Again, this is still up from the three-year window typically mandated by collective bargaining.
• There isn’t a mention of a senior staff voluntary plan Keane and two others are in. The additional plan was deemed unauthorized by the city’s former general counsel and Gulliford is seeking clarification on that. Not including it would allow for action outside reform, but Keane has said it needs to be addressed.
• The payment structure for paying down more than $1.6 billion in the plan’s unfunded liability. Over the past week, the levels the city and fund would pay have varied. For instance, on Monday the committee decided to hold back $5 million of a fund stabilization account that would have been applied as a payment. So, instead of $45.9 million, it dropped it $40.9 million.
(904) 356-2466