Police intro body cameras to collective bargaining, as Jax pitches retirement protection

The latest round of collective bargaining ended with a clear divide between the City of Jacksonville and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 530- the heads of both teams “rejecting” a key portion of each other’s proposals.

And it looks like body cameras may now be in the mix.

During the last time at their respective bargaining tables earlier this month, the City offered both the FOP and the Jacksonville Association of Fire Fighters local 122 some big boosts for current employees- a 20% pay bump over three years, a one-time 3% bonus, and the restoration of some benefits that were cut during a 2015 reform deal. Both unions seemed generally receptive to that, but neither were willing to move away from their goal of putting new hires in the Florida Retirement System. The City wants to see new hires moved in to a 401(k) style account where they would contribute 25% to the employee's 8%.

At the conclusion of Wednesday’s bargaining session, Jacksonville Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa made it clear the City rejected FRS. Local FOP President Steve Zona responded that the initial 401(k) offering was rejected as well. There is a new twist to the 401(k) offering that was put forward by the City, though, and that’s something the FOP says they’re going to spend time researching.

The concern the unions have had about a defined benefits 401(k) is uncertainty for the future of their membership, and what they will get when they retire. To address that, the City team is now offering a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal under the 401(k). As outlined by the negotiating team, this annuity would mean that the City and employee contributions are split in to two pots from the outset- one that's the defined contribution pot and one that's the annuity pot. The annuity pot grows both with the payroll investment and with investment return, and when the employee retires, it's used to provide a guaranteed sum per month for the rest of that person's life. Additionally, while the money is withdrawn monthly, the sun remaining in the pot will continue to grow through investment.

The City team says the monthly sum cannot decrease, but could grow.

While the City put that forward for consideration to both the FOP and JAFF, the FOP added another provision to the ongoing negotiations- body cameras.

The union made it clear that they don’t object to body cameras, but they believe the issue should be subject to mandatory collective bargaining because of the impact on members. It would mean the City and FOP collectively come up with a policy for body camera use, review, data storage, and other areas. The union cited the urgency behind this provision, because the Sheriff is planning to roll out a pilot program in the coming months.

Both unions also offered counter proposals, which included being able to use some funds that the Police and Fire Pension Fund is currently applying toward the debt, per the 2015 reform agreement. The City further offered an extended term for the proposed agreement.

While these bargaining session carry the weight of determining benefits for employees, they also impact the City ability to pay down the collective pension debt of all unions, which is more than $2.8 billion. Voters approved a half-cent sales tax to pay down the debt, but it can only be tapped if at least one of the three major unions on a defined benefit plan moves to a defined contribution plan. The City is pushing for all unions to move to defined contribution, in order to apply the funding to all of the debts.

Recent legislation filed by Jacksonville State Representative Jason Fischer would make it impossible for any Jacksonville unions to enroll in the FRS pension in the future, leaving that option open to only state employees. While the bill came as a blow to the unions- who were pushing FRS- the City team says it makes no difference, because they were intent on pursuing defined contribution plans.