BRADENTON, Fla. — A watchdog group in Florida formed a coalition calling for municipal pension reform, saying cities face nearly $11 billion in debt from the obligations.
Taxpayers for Sustainable Pensions, comprised of "Florida's influential business advocates and policy groups," will pursue legislative, constitutional, and local-level solutions to the problem, said Florida TaxWatch, a nonprofit research institute.
TaxWatch said various organizations were inspired to create the coalition after state legislators were unable to pass a municipal pension reform bill during the 2014 legislative session.
"Too many Florida cities are facing a bill they cannot pay without reducing public services or increasing taxes," said TaxWatch's chief research officer Robert Weissert. "As government pensions become more generous, even surpassing pensions given to military retirees, they have plunged Florida's municipalities into nearly $11 billion in debt that future taxpayers will be forced to pay."
One-third of all municipal pension plans are less than 70% funded, according to TaxWatch.
Part of the problem has to do with requirements imposed on municipalities about how they can use insurance premium tax revenues to fund certain benefits for police and firefighters.
The effect of the legislation boosted benefits and increased liabilities for most cities. However, bills proposed earlier this year to deal with the problem — and were supported by police and firefighter unions — did not pass.
The legislatively imposed mandates have cost Florida's taxpayers over $550 million since 1999, and until they are repealed cities will continue to struggle to make good on their promise to first responders, said Scott Dudley, legislative director for the Florida League of Cities Inc., which has 410 member cities.
"Florida's cities respect and honor our first responders and want to ensure that the pensions they have been promised are there for them when they are ready to retire," Dudley said. "The legislature has imposed mandates on cities that have made municipal police and firefighter pensions unsustainable in the long run."
Weissert said, "Taxpayers for Sustainable Pensions is determined to find a solution to protect Florida's taxpayers from underfunded, unfair, and unsustainable pension mandates that leave Florida cities vulnerable to debt and even bankruptcy."
In addition to the League of Cities and TaxWatch, other members of the coalition are Americans For Prosperity — Florida, Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Chamber Foundation, the National Federation of Independent Business, and R Street Institute.
