City of Hialeah Pension Reform Charter Amendment Question (November 2013)

Voting on Local Pensions
Local Ballot Measures
By state
By year
Hotspots Reports
Most recent edition
Original Case study
San Jose & San Diego
State-wide Measures

A City of Hialeah Pension Reform Charter Amendment ballot question was on the November 5, 2013, election ballot for voters in the city of Hialeah in Miami-Dade County, which is in Florida. It was approved.

According to the 2012 U.S. Census estimate, Hialeah is the 88th largest city in the nation and the 6th largest city in Florida with a population of 231,941. Prior to the passage of this amendment, elected council members in Hialeah were given a pension after they reach the age of 55 and have completed 12 years or more of service on the city council. This was not by any means common in South Florida cities. The charter amendment referendum approved by voters on November 5, 2013, did away with these pension benefits for future city officials, beginning in January of 2014. Moreover, this measure required any future changes to the pension plans of elected officials to be approved by a city-wide vote. The referendum did nothing to change the payments being made to mayors and city councilors who have already retired.

Election results

Below are the unofficial final results with 52 of 52 precincts reporting.

Hialeah Pension Charter Amendment
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		12,363	80.43%
No		3,009	19.57%

These unofficial, final results are from the Miami Dade County elections office.

Background

Examples of city officials receiving pensions at the time of the Amendment Question:

• Former mayor Raul Marinez gathers $180,000 a year from Hialeah taxpayers and has done so since his retirement in the early 2000s.
• Current Mayor Carlos Hernandez will get nearly 190,000 in annual pension payments after he leaves office.

This measure was passed off by some as simply an electoral trick, aiming to give a boost to a mayoral candidate or council seat candidate at the polls in the November election. Those that had this view use the fact that in 2011 the city council attached a similar referendum measure to the general election ballot to bolster it.

Text of measure

The question on the ballot:

	"Revising Pension Article to require voter approval of future changes to elected officials pension" Shall the City amend the pension provisions of the Hialeah Charter to require Hialeah voters to approve any future changes to the pension plan for elected officials, which will be closed to new elected officials beginning on January 1, 2014?

A copy of the agenda of the city council meeting which approved this question for the ballot is available here.

Support

Supporters

• Marcos Miralles, city council candidate in November election
• Miami-Dade Libertarian Examiner

Arguments in favor

Proponents argued that the city has had serious budgeting issues lately and should reserve revenue for city services rather than giving it away to a large pension fund for city officials. Supporters of the referendum, that lean towards Libertarian principles, said that elected officials are public servants and should be motivated by desire for the common good instead of money. Some even argued that mayors should not even receive a salary, let alone a pension.

Those that argued in favor of the referendum pointed to cities that do not even compensate their mayors at all, such as Coral Gables and Surfside.

City Council candidate Marcos Miralles announced his approval of this measure but criticized it for not doing enough and ignoring the problem of large pensions being received by current retirees. He also criticized the city council for using the measure for political posturing, when it does not, in fact, solve the pension issues of the city. Despite that Miralles said the measure does not go far enough and is not much more than a political trick, he did acknowledge that the referendum was a good one and encourages a "yes" vote from electors on November 5.

Opposition

Opponents

• Anthony Luis, president of the local Police Benevolent Association
• Juan Santana, mayoral candidate in November election

Arguments against

Anthony Luis, who was the president of the local Police Benevolent Association, said that, according to his viewpoint, the referendum was unfair to future candidates who were considering their pension when they filed to be candidates.

Mayoral candidate Juan Santana, held the position that the referendum was just an excuse. "They don't have money anymore. They're gutting the pension fund because it can't be funded anymore. But they're making it seem as if they were doing something heroic, of their own choice."

City elections

Mayoral election

The city of Hialeah held a mayoral election on November 19, 2013. A primary election took place on November 5, 2013 with the top two vote getters advancing to the general election.

Candidates

The following candidates appeared on the November 5, 2013 primary ballot.
aCarlos Hernandez Incumbent

• Julio J. Martinez Former mayor
• Juan Santana

Council election

Two seats on the city council for Hialeah, Florida were up for election in 2013, for council-member positions Group V and VI.

The primary election took place on November 5, 2013 with the top two vote getters advancing to the general election on November 19. However, there were only two candidates for each of the city council seats, and thus there was no need for runoff election, which made the actual race day on November 5.

The following candidates appeared on the November 5, 2013 primary ballot.</ref>

Group 5

aLuis Gonzalez Incumbent

• Julio Rodriguez

Group 6

aPaul "Pablito" Hernandez Incumbent

• Marcos Miralles

See also

• Hialeah mayoral election, 2013
• Hialeah city council elections, 2013
• November 5, 2013 ballot measures in Florida
• Miami-Dade County, Florida ballot measures

External links

Suggest a link

• City of Hialeah Elections Website