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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003 01 13 Other - Document Handed out during Public Input PEOPLE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT P.O. BOX 195321 WINTER SPRINGS, FL 32719 Statement presented to Winter Springs Commissioners, at Commission meeting on January 13, 2003. Before the holiday break, City Manager McLemore brought up the issue of his buying into the City Pension Fund. When he was hired, he opted out of this plan. Since the downturn of the economy, Mr. McLemore now wants the City to fund, retroactively, his entering the City's Pension Fund. In 1991, a Tampa City Attorney attempted this same ploy. He received a favorable vote in that City's Council. However, the matter was appealed to the State Legislature, by City employees. This legislative action died in Committee in Tallahassee. The legislators certainly realized what a dangerous precedent would be set. They also knew what a terrible burden this action would be on a municipality. In Mr. McLemore's case, it would cost the City, as its share, over $100,000. This would be so patently unfair to the taxpayers, and current participants in the Pension Fund. Mr. McLemore made his choice. Now that his choice turned out to be a poor one, he expects us to pick up the tab for his losses. We have all lost, Mr. McLemore. What sets you apart from the rest of us? We want to place our protest, on the record, to this unconscionable plan, as advised by legal counsel. A copy of this statement, together with the newspaper article concerning the case cited, will be given to the City Clerk. Jacqueline Lein, Treasurer/Director 1173 E. Winger Foot Cir. Winter Springs 32708 Hillsborough: Unce a pension holdout, city attorney can cash in Page 1 of 2 ~~. CY.CC~IUT ON LI N E TAMPA BAY -c u~r~ CJ ~ _.;,~~.~ Weather ~ Sports ~ Forums ~ Comics ~ Classifieds ~ Calendar ~ Movies Once a pension holdout, city attorney can cash in By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD © St. Petersburg Times, published Apri16, 2001 TAMPA -- Twice, with a humbler salary than the one he commands today, City Attorney James Palermo declined to buy into the city pension. On Thursday, a divided City Council decided that shouldn't matter: He can buy into it retroactively. TAMPA -- Twice, with a humbler salary than the one he commands today, City Attorney James Palermo declined to buy into the city pension. On Thursday, a divided City Council decided that shouldn't matter: He can buy into it retroactively. "We don't think it's fair," Walter Edwards, a city fleet maintenance worker, told the council before the vote. He held a petition with 49 signatures of city workers opposing the pension plan. He said he gathered them in a day. "He's had two opportunities and turned both of them down. Now he wants to jump on the bandwagon. "It's kind of like saying, I wish someone would give me the chance to go back in time and invest in Microsoft," Edwards said. "If you want to give somebody a golden parachute, use somebody else's silkworm." The council was unmoved, voting 4-2 to endorse legislation that would allow Palermo to receive $43,000 annually for the rest of his life by paying $95,000 now to make up for contributions he would have made since starting work for the city, plus interest. Palermo, 63, says he didn't buy into the plan when he started as an assistant city attorney in 1967 because he didn't think he would outlast Dick Greco's first term as mayor. He says he declined a second chance to join the plan in the mid 1980s because he couldn't afford it. Palermo's current salary is $121,388, and he has been in the six-figure range since the mayor gave him the city's top legal job in 1995. Since an employee's pension is determined in part by an average of his highest three years' salary in the last 10 years of employment, that makes it more lucrative than ever for Palermo to buy into it. Council members Gwen Miller, Rose Ferlita, Linda Saul-Sena and Mary Alvarez voted to approve the measure. "I think I can understand the logic of Mr. Palermo not pursuing the pension the first time around,'°Ferlita said in an interview, adding that city attorneys often don't last beyond a single administration. And the second time he declined? Ferlita said she was sympathetic on that score, too, pointing to the more http://www.bucsgameday.com/News/040601 /news~f/Hillsborough/Once_a~ension_holdou.s... 12/12/02 _- _ Hillsborough: Urice a pension. holdout, city attorney can cash in Page 2 of 2 than 30 years Palermo has worked for the city. "When you come back with that many years of service, I felt I had an obligation to support that." Council member Bob Buckhorn, who along with Charlie Miranda opposed the measure, said in an interview: "We don't do the same thing for the folks that turn a wrench and dig ditches for the city of Tampa. It's going to be awfully hard for the administration to justify it to the rank and file troops that the rules are somehow different for the people higher up." Last year, a measure to let Palermo buy into the city's pension fund was killed by the local legislative delegation before it got to Tallahassee. This year, the delegation approved it, after the language of the bill was modified to shift focus from Palermo himself to city employees in his category. And legislators also required the council to agree. To pass, it must still be approved by the Legislature. "It's over in City Council," Palermo said Thursday, adding he believed the council did the right thing. "It's up to Tallahassee." - Christopher Goffard can be reached at (813) 226-3337 or ~~ff~rd(ci?sntimes com. Hom e Business (Citrus ~ Commentary ~ Entertainment Hernando ~ Floridian ~ Obituaries ~ Pasco ~ Shorts State. ~ Tam~a_Bay_ ~ World & Nation © Co_p_yri~ht 2001__St. ~?etersbur~Times_ All rights reserved http:/1www.bucsgameday.com/News/040601 /news~f/Hillsborough/Once_a~ension_holdou.s... 12/12/02