Salinero

MIKE SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 31, 2011

http://www2.tbo.com/news/news/2011/aug/31/menewso3-hillsborough-approves-ar-254213/

Just days after Irene ravaged the East Coast, Hillsborough County administrators used the proposition of a hurricane hitting the Tampa Bay area to sell county commissioners on the need for a $31.4 million public safety complex.

Commissioners voted 6-0 to build the complex, which will house emergency operations, fire-rescue headquarters and training, code enforcement and the county’s main computer servers, all in a hurricane-hardened building.

The county will borrow most of the money for the complex through a bond issue with annual debt payments of $1.78 million. Payments will be made with receipts from the communications services tax.

County Administrator Mike Merrill had made the complex a priority in his fiscal 2012 budget. He ran into resistance, however, from commissioners who questioned making such a large expenditure during a time of economic hardship.

So Merrill decided to make his case by squeezing commissioners and about 130 county employees into the present emergency operations center for a mock hurricane drill.

Emergency Management Director Preston Cook ran a video that, in faux documentary fashion, showed the impact of a Category 5 hurricane coming ashore in Tampa Bay.

“I didn’t want to dramatize it,” Merrill said, “but I wanted to make it as real as I can because I think it’s important enough.”

The sobering images of destruction in the video and the claustrophobic conditions in the 20-year-old emergency operations center seemed to wilt whatever concerns commissioners still had about the project.

“We’re here to protect and inform the people of Hillsborough County what’s going to happen if a hurricane happens,” said Commissioner Les Miller, who made the motion to build the complex. “The No. 1 thing we need to look at is the 1.2 million people we represent.”

The complex will be on county-owned land on Columbus Drive near Falkenburg Road.

A core building housing the operations center and computer system will be between 74,000 and 90,000 square feet and cover more than 20 acres. An auxiliary building will be more than 18,000 square feet.

The new buildings will be able to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, a storm with sustained winds greater than 155 mph. The current, 16,000-square-foot emergency operations center is built to withstand a category 2 hurricane with winds up to 110 mph.

Commissioner Sandy Murman asked Merrill to look at having a private business build the complex and lease it to the county.

Merrill agreed to look at a public-private partnership, but said the county can borrow money for construction at a much lower interest rate than businesses.

County officials want to have the complex finished when the 2013 hurricane season begins. Cook, the emergency management director, said the commission’s quick action confirmed his reasons for taking the job in June.

“This county understands preparedness,” Cook said. “This confirms that I came to the right place.”

Raises offset pay cut for retirement system

By JOSH POLTILOVE, MIKELL SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune
Published: June 14, 2011

TAMPA —

Hillsborough County sheriff’s employees will receive a 3.25-percent salary boost to offset a state mandate requiring them to set aside 3 percent of their salaries for retirement.

Sheriff’s employees haven’t received raises in years, and a 3 percent reduction without compensation would have affected morale and quality of life, Sheriff David Gee said.

“I wouldn’t call it a raise,” Gee said. “I don’t think it’s a raise when you’re trying to keep them at their same pay.”

County commissioners did not directly criticize Gee’s decision. But some had reservations.

“It’s their budget; but it’s taxpayers’ money,” Commission Chairman Al Higginbotham said. “I don’t feel it’s the authority of the commission to get involved in the details of their budget; that doesn’t mean we don’t pay attention.”

Commissioner Sandy Murman, a former state lawmaker, said the sheriff’s action undermines the Legislature’s intent to close the state budget deficit without raising taxes.

“When you’ve got a branch of government that is trying to impose this 3 percent reduction, you have to question, if there is an office that’s trying to circumvent that, where is the benefit to the public?” Murman said.

Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober also is considering giving his employees raises to offset the mandate to pay into the state retirement system.

“We’re studying options at this time,” said Mark Cox, a spokesman for Ober. “Our employees haven’t been given a cost of living increase in five years. Our goal is the retention of our valued employees.”

The retirement system covers not only state workers but also teachers, law enforcement officers, firefighters and other employees of local governments. It provides benefits to 572,000 active and 319,000 retired government employees.

News that Gee had found money to offset his employees’ retirement payments was another more blow to county employees who have been battered by successive years of layoffs, furlough days and flat paychecks.

Juan Basso, president of Local 167 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said for weeks he had heard rumors that Gee would bolster his employees’ paychecks. Then, on Monday, Basso learned Hillsborough Clerk of Court Pat Frank will give her 781 employees $1,500 each in a one-time bonus using money the clerk got from a federal lawsuit settlement.

“All these raises are going around; Pat Frank and the sheriff’s office,” Basso said. “And our blue-collar workers, we don’t get any raises because they say the money is not in the budget.”

Chief Deputy Jose Docobo last week announced to sheriff’s employees that the changes will be effective June 27 – the same day they must begin paying 3 percent into the state retirement system. Deputies as well as civilian employees are affected.

Other Florida counties also are seeking to offset the shift in salary to the retirement system.

Earlier this month, when new Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco unveiled his first budget proposal, he said he hoped to address the retirement contribution change with the Pasco County Commission.

He said it costs about $100,000 to hire a deputy, including a background check and training — much more than it would cost to give existing deputies a pay increase to offset the retirement contribution.

Escambia County’s government and its sheriff are seeking 3.1 percent raises for employees who pay into the state retirement fund, as is Santa Rosa County’s sheriff, the Pensacola News Journal has reported.

State Rep. Debbie Mayfield, a Vero Beach Republican, co-sponsored the legislation mandating 3 percent of salaries for retirement. She has no problem with local government agencies deciding to give raises to employees.

“God bless them, if their taxpayers agree with what they’re doing, I can’t argue with them,” she said.

The Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office’s salary offset is for employees hired before July 1 who are members of the retirement system but have not entered into a deferred retirement options program.

Gee said he has about 3,200 sworn employees and there are about 400 sworn positions currently open. There are about 1,400 civilian employees, with about 170 open positions.

The sheriff’s proposed budget is about $370 million – roughly $130,000 more than in 2011, Gee said.

Sandy Murman

Sheriff’s Office Requests Pay Raise Offsets