New union, big demands

About two years ago, the road deputies switched unions, replacing the Police Benevolent Association with IUPA, pronounced eye-oop-ah. Deputy Bell, the president of Local 6020, acts like the new sheriff in town. He clearly wants to prove his members made the right call by getting them more money.

The deputies are in the third year of a three-year contract, which allowed an opening to renegotiate if the economy picked up. IUPA pulled the trigger and asked for a raise. So did BSO’s other six unions, including its largest union, which represents deputies at the county’s four jails and Central Intake.

Israel decided to single out detention deputies for a bigger raise this year. He wants to begin shrinking their 13 percent pay disparity with road-patrol deputies, getting it closer to the 5 percent it was before the Great Recession.

It’s hard to explain the pay details, largely because the sheriff and union use different terms. But in addition to cost-of-living or merit raises, newer deputies also get a 5 percent step raise every year for nine years, while those with 20 years of experience get an extra 2 percent for “longevity pay.” There’s also a negotiated bump for “first responder” pay. And Local 6020 wants a bump to settle a grievance about deputies it says were shortchanged on unused sick pay on their way out the door.

But the bottom line, Israel says, is that Bell is demanding a 6.5 percent raise for 20-year deputies.

“He said, ‘Well, we have a nuclear option available to us. It’s never been done before, but we can file a vote of no confidence.’ I said, ‘You’re going to file a vote of no confidence over a labor negotiation because we’re not where we need to be financially?’ He said, ‘Well, over Parkland.’ I said, ‘But you and I have talked about Parkland, and you have been complimentary about me, and not speaking about it, and waiting for FDLE to conclude their investigation.’ He said, ‘You can’t take a PR hit.’ That’s a quote. I said, ‘So you’re going to try to extort a raise by telling me that you’re going to ask for a vote of no confidence?’ He said that’s what the membership wanted. I basically said, ‘Do what you’ve got to do.’”

To hear Bell tell it, none of this happened.

At a press conference and in a phone interview, Bell said he never asked for a 6.5 percent raise. Asked if he threatened the nuclear option after the sheriff said the money wasn’t there, he said: “I will say it again in big capital letters: This sheriff is a liar.

“We told him there’s money for raises, We called his bluff. We hired an accountant at our own expense … and we proved, last year alone, we returned $100 million back to the county commission that was not used out of our own budget. So you tell me who’s being fiscally responsible.”

BSO’s budget director, Dafne Perez, says the agency returned $100 million to the county because it cannot hold money in reserve at year’s end. She said $33 million was committed to purchase orders or other encumbrances, and $35 million was for “transfers, reserves and post-employee benefits.” BSO will get back the money it gets from cities to provide services. Only $22 million applies to the county’s general fund. Of that, $7 million will go to a capital account for two new helicopters and a mobile command vehicle.

As for the nuclear option, Bell said: “No union ever wants to use the nuclear option … but you’re painting us in a corner because of your bad policies, your bad decisions.”