Miami city commissioners approve lifetime pensions for themselves: ‘It’s a 24-hour job’

Miami’s part-time elected officials agreed to give themselves lifetime pensions in a final vote on Tuesday, reviving a program that was frozen in 2009 during the financial crisis.

The City Commission had considered sending the question to voters in a referendum but ultimately decided against that. Commissioners Miguel Angel Gabela and Christine King — who co-sponsored the resolution — voted in favor of the pensions, along with Commissioner Joe Carollo. Commissioners Manolo Reyes and Damian Pardo voted against them.

Pardo’s preference was to send the question to voters. “Otherwise for me, I see it as self-dealing,” Pardo said. However, because his colleagues approved it in spite of that preference, Pardo said he plans to opt into the program.

“I work as hard as everybody else,” Pardo said.

King told the Miami Herald after the vote that she also intends to opt in. Carollo, who was in office before the program was frozen more than a decade ago, already has a pension through the city, although the payments are on pause until he leaves elected office.

Reyes was the only commissioner who vowed not to get a pension, saying he was keeping a promise he made to residents when he was campaigning that he wouldn’t collect a pension.

Despite being a co-sponsor on the item, Gabela said he is unsure whether he plans to enroll. The officials will have 10 days after the resolution goes into effect to make a decision, which is irreversible, according to the proposal.

Under the pension proposal, current and future elected officials in the city — including the mayor — would 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. In other words, they would have to serve for at least two terms to become eligible.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Francis Suarez did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether the mayor plans to opt into the pension program.

The pension amount would 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 would also be entitled to a 3% cost-of-living increase each year after they begin collecting their pension.

Miami city commissioners earn a salary of roughly $58,000. But with added benefits like car and cell phone allowances, their yearly compensation adds up to about $100,000. The proposal states that the pension amount will be based on either their compensation or taxable wages — whichever is higher.

To qualify for the pension, the officials need to have been elected after Oct. 1, 2021. That means city officials who were elected after freezing the program in 2009 but before the 2021 cutoff date are not eligible.

King said she wasn’t in favor of sending the question to voters “because people are M&Ms: mean and miserable.”

She referred to an email that was sent to her office recently criticizing local elected officials for declaring a state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Milton, followed by a subsequent email from the same person criticizing a hat that King wore.

“I would not leave my livelihood up to voters like that,” King said.

Carollo said the city’s elected officials work harder than the non-elected employees who are part of the city administration.

“C ommissioners are on call just like a doctor is,” Carollo said.

The previous city commissioners who froze the program in 2009 did so for future elected officials, but not for themselves. Gabela said that was a “morally incorrect” decision on their part. He also said the job of an elected official comes with a “reputational hazard.”

“It’s a 24-hour job. That’s the truth of the matter,” Gabela said. “People don’t know this. They look at the perks that we get, but they don’t look at the time that’s put in. I work on the weekends, by the way. ... And I should. Because I signed up for this.”