Union’s ‘no confidence’ vote is a ‘political stunt’

The “no confidence” vote by the IUPA [International Union of Police Associations ] labor union is a transparent political stunt intended — in the middle of union contract wage negotiations — to shamelessly use the Parkland tragedy to extort a 6.5 percent pay raise this year from our agency.

Everything else that IUPA president Jeff Bell is complaining of today (police body cameras, vehicle parts supply contracts, the discontinued “loaner” gun program, etc.) occurred prior to IUPA endorsing me for re-election in 2016. In fact, Bell wrote on July 29, 2016: “Our members recognize the importance of strong leadership, morals and the continued commitment to the community and law enforcement.”

So what has changed since July 2016? Bell’s push for more money had been rejected. Since last fall, the union has been bargaining for a larger cost of living increase than the 3 percent I offered. This is in addition to the 5 percent steps that eligible deputies also receive. Since the Parkland tragedy occurred two months ago, Bell has continued to use the threat of a “no confidence” vote to extort more money.

Bell also keeps throwing around an absurd claim that the Broward Sheriff ’s Office finished last year with $100 million not used. BSO is audited every year by the Broward County Commission. For the immediate past fiscal year, we returned $22 million to the county in general fund “regional services” unencumbered dollars. This represents roughly 4 percent of our total general fund regional budget, and is considered an appropriate, conservative and fiscally responsible management of our budget.

Even the dollars returned to the county come back to BSO. Under an agreement with the County Commission, the county retains 30 percent of the returned dollars and 70 percent is held for one time capital improvements for the agency. We have used that money to replace aging helicopters, the outdated incident command vehicle, and other equipment. This is a responsible use of these public tax dollars.

As for what we pay our employees — and I certainly wish I had the ability to pay everyone more — BSO devotes 81.5 percent of our entire budget to personnel costs for all our employees.

This no confidence vote is an appalling attempt to use Parkland to extort an unrealistic pay raise.

Nothing more.

Since last fall, the union has been bargaining for a larger cost of living increase than the 3 percent ... offered.