Miami Declares Financial Urgency; Will Look To Unions For Cuts

August 15, 2011 4:15 PM

Reporting Tim Kephart

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MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Miami City Manager Johnny Martinez declared a financial urgency late Monday afternoon.

The move comes as Mayor Tomas Regalado is fighting off calls by union leaders for him to be recalled.

Martinez’s declaration is a sign that he wants to renegotiate the union contracts with the police and fire fighters. Regalado has said in the past that the union contracts are adding to the city’s fiscal woes.

Martinez said that a collective bargaining team will contact the representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 20, AFSCME Local 1907, AFSCME Local 871, and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 587 to begin negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement.

If the unions don’t agree to deep cuts to their contracts, the financial urgency declaration will allow the Miami City Commission to make unilateral cuts to fill a $61 million budget hole in 2012.

According to CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald, the city invoked the same declaration last year and chopped off $80 million out of union contracts.

Maria

Why don’t they cut the Mayors, ALL 150 MAYORS that Miami Has? Miami has something like 20 different cities within Miami, all with their own budget, all with Mayor Salaries. That is RIDICULOUS. Why don’t they stop giving the city officials cars and gas allowance? All of these things? Instead they cut the teachers, firefighters, police. Soon we’ll be putting out our own fires, policing ourselves, and teaching our own kids. This is all just completely corrupt. The entire city and state needs auditing, PERIOD.