North Miami Beach Police Jobs May Be On The Line

NORTH MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) – Former North Miami Beach Police Chief Rafael Hernandez faced a tough decision Monday: lay off 24 officers and 13 civilians to fix the city's budget problems or face the consequences.

Hernandez chose the latter, which is why he is now the former chief of police in North Miami Beach.

"The chief was given a mandate to cut $4 million from the budget," said police union president Mike Pons. "The chief knew he couldn't cut that amount of money without cutting personnel and he wasn't willing to do it."

City manager Lyndon Bonner told city council members Tuesday at a budget workshop that the cuts would leave the department with fewer detectives, fewer road patrol officers and fewer crime scene technicians. However, Bonner said the cuts are necessary.

"I don't like it," Bonner said. "Unfortunately, this is where we're at so we have to balance those services that deal with public safety the most effectively for the money I've got left."

Bonner told city leaders that for years the city made poor financial decisions that ultimately led to a ratings drop in creditworthiness.

"You have been taking from your savings account and funding a lifestyle you couldn't afford," said Bonner.

North Miami Beach Mayor George Vallejo said a $70 million city pension liability is crushing the city government and something has to give.

"There doesn't necessarily have to be layoffs," said Vallejo. "There are a lot of other alternatives between the layoffs and the way things used to be, like concessions that can be made."

Dozens of North Miami Beach police officers wore blue shirts in a show of solidarity and crowded into the city council chambers Tuesday. The officers who face possible layoffs -- the cuts would be made based on seniority -- wore numbers on their shirts. Patrol officer Christie Coffey wore #22.

"To know that now I'm just a number to them -- I'm not somebody that's been working here since I got out of high school," Coffey said. "I'm just a number and I'm just a way for them to have more money at the end of the year."

Coffey said she's followed in her father's and stepmother's footsteps to become an officer and after 5 years on the force, she doesn't want to go.

"All we can do is just hope that the public sees that we're here for them and we should stay here," Coffey said.

Pons said police officers have already given up pay hikes, benefits and more

"We understand that it's a bad economy," Pons said. "And we came out last year and said we won't take raises for three years. We pay 11 percent into our pension."

Mayor Vallejo said simply that "if the money's not there, the money's not there."

The law requires a balanced city budget, but when CBS4's Ted Scouten talked to tax payers, laying off cops is not the answer.

"That's not an alternative at all," said North Miami Beach Resident Jeff Sloan. "I definitely think they ought to keep the police force operating as it has in the past."

No decisions were made at Tuesday's meeting. The city council will hold a number of budget workshops and hearings in the coming weeks.