April 1, 2012. HB 5005 will reduce contributions to retirement accounts of 100,000 public workers in higher ed and law enforcement
By Steve Bousquet, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Published Thursday, March 29, 2012
TALLAHASSEE — On the last day of the 2012 session, state lawmakers voted to reduce contributions to the retirement accounts of 100,000 public employees, many of whom work in higher education or law enforcement.
The bill (HB 5005) passed both chambers by wide margins with little discussion and will soon reach Gov. Rick Scott, who said he has not decided whether to sign it.
The legislation reduces government contributions to employees enrolled in an investment plan, known as a defined contribution plan, as opposed to the traditional pension plan for public employees.
Police officers in the defined contribution plan, who are members of what’s known as a “special risk” class, would see the state’s contribution drop from 18.3 percent of an employee’s salary to 12.3 percent.
The result is that employees in the plan will have less money available for their retirement than if the change hadn’t been made.
“This is a drastic change,” said Steve Klapka, a 25-year sheriff’s deputy in Hernando County and longtime president of the agency’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge. “It’s a disgrace, in my opinion. You can get a job at UPS, make more money and get a better retirement.”
Klapka said he is near retirement, but younger officers who are still building a retirement nest egg will be hit harder by the change. He said Hernando deputies have not had a pay increase in more than four years.
Klapka said he met Scott last year when the governor attended funeral services for John Mecklenburg, a sheriff’s deputy killed in a car crash. “I remember him saying, ‘We’ve got to do more for law enforcement,’ ” Klapka said of Scott. “This isn’t doing more for law enforcement. It’s taking away.”
The new rates are a side effect of changes legislators made to the pension plan last year, including requiring workers to contribute 3 percent of their pay to their retirement for the first time.
Read more at tampabay.com