MIAMI – (CBS4) - Do Miami-Dade county commissioners deserve an $86,000 raise?
That will be among the controversial charter questions that voters will be asked to decide when they vote on a countywide referendum May 24th.
On the same day, voters will be asked to elect a new mayor and county commissioner, seats that were left vacant when voters recalled Mayor Carlos Alvarez and longtime County Commissioner Natasha Seijas.
Currently, commissioners are paid $6,000 a month and critics have said commissioners are distracted by their outside jobs and, at times, influenced by them.
Commissioners have argued that to get the job done right, a sitting commissioner should make a full-time salary. But voters who recently recalled two longtime, sitting leaders over increased taxes and may not be swayed.
Other reforms placed before voters will include placing 12-year term limits on sitting commissioners.
A move Miami billionaire businessman Norman Braman criticized to CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald.
“The proposals put forth are outrageous. The commission threw it all in the face of voters,’’ Braman told the newspaper. “To think these people would stay in office until 2024 is just incredible.”
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
