JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A judge has turned down a request to block a Jacksonville City Council vote on the latest plan to reform the city's Police and Fire Pension Fund. The council vote is scheduled for Tuesday night.
The ruling came Friday afternoon, less than six hours after Circuit Judge Thomas Beverly presided over a 45-minute hearing that included arguments from attorneys for the city and Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County.
RULING: Curtis Lee, et al. vs. city of Jacksonville
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In March, Beverly voided the current pension agreement because it was negotiated between the city and the pension fund. He ruled that public service pensions are to be negotiated in collective bargaining agreements with unions.
The pending agreement was made by City Council -- not the administration -- in consultation with the pension fund's trustees.
"For decades, the city and the unions, who are supposed to negotiate these things, have not been following state laws," said John Winkler, of Concerned Taxpayers.
Randy Wyse, president of the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, said Concerned Taxpayers has tried to stop every step toward a new pension agreement.
"Really any step that we take they don't like," Wyse said.
Steve Amos, president of the Jacksonville chapter of Fraternal Order Police, didn't want to be interviewed, but issued a statement:
"The Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County has been adversarial toward the police department pension problem, the City Council, the mayor's office, and any attempts to fix what they call the pension problem."
The pending agreement, proposed by Councilman Bill Gulliford and which has already passed by two council committees, is a seven-year deal. A previous deal proposed by Mayor Alvin Brown and supported by the pension fund board and called for a 10-year term was defeated by City Council.
A second pension reform plan, also passed by two committees, calls for the the plan to be renegotiated in three years.
Gulliford's proposal involves both the city and Police and Fire Pension Fund putting in millions of dollars to temporarily sustain it while the city searches for a permanent funding source. He said the city's growing commitment to address the $1.7 billion deficit is what makes passage of the bill urgent.
Winkler thinks Gulliford and city leaders are trying to speed this bill up the bill before they leave office. Gulliford doesn't deny that.
"I just do what I think is best for the community. I'm going to do whatever I have to to get it done," Gulliford said earlier this week.
Gulliford said he won't use the word optimistic about Tuesday night, but he is hopeful that the pension reform bill will be the one that gets enough votes to pass the City Council.