Mayor Ashton Hayward said this morning at his “Mornings with the Mayor” with the media that there is a possibility that the fire pension may remain open.
The city of Pensacola has been negotiating with the firefighters for nearly two years and had a tentative agreement in the summer of 2012. However, the union membership later voted to not accept it.
“When you look at the numbers and actuaries, we were hoping to close all the plans and get them into FRS,” said the mayor. “Timing is incredibly important. Maybe the fact that we didn’t get a deal may be beneficial to all of us-firefighters and the city.”
He said the cost to close the pension plan and move the firefighter to the Florida Retirement System (FRS) was more than earlier anticipated.
“The firefighters have always contributed 11 percent to their plans,” he said,”but they understand that government and municipalities around this country aren’t what they were 20 years ago. I think those guys would like to get a deal done and so would we.”
The mayor said that he was fortunate to get both the city and police pensions closed in his first term.
“The police was a huge win so we were able to do a lot in our first term,” said Hayward. “You can’t get everything in life. You don’t get all unfortunately.”