Miami Police Union Agrees to 1-Year Contract
Now that the police union and the city commissioners have agreed to a contact, officials can balance the budget
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City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado
In a last-minute decision, Miami's police union and city officials reached an agreement on their collective bargaining contract on Tuesday.
The two sides reached an agreement for a one-year contract, just before the city was to have it's final budget meeting. Now, city commissions will be able to close a $62 million budget deficit. They wanted $12 million in concessions from the police union.
The police had been trying to get a three-year contract, but city officials wanted it to be for one year.
It was down to the wire, as the budget meeting was set to start at 5 p.m. and officials needed to have the contract in place for them to pass a balanced budget by the end of the month.
The head of the Fraternal Order of Police wasn't happy with the decision.
"They made something bad, horrible," Armando Aguilar told The Miami Herald.
Commissioners are set to vote on Mayor Tomas Regalado's $478 million budget.
In August, City Manager Johnny Martinez declared a "financial urgency" forcing the unions to enter into negotiations for new contracts with city officials. Since then, of the four major unions in the city, only the police hadn't come to an agreement with officials.
