3% is pay cut is a done deal

Yeah, too bad we don't have a Dem. controlled gov. like Cal., NY, Chicago or any other totally broke location. Who is uneducated? ///

Yeah or a Republican run State that has the money to treat their employees fairly but would rather give that money to their millionaire cronies .... um... oh that is Florida.
Sorry , never mind.

From the last few comments on here, I think most would agree that blind allegiance and partisanship to either Democrats or Republicans is not in the best interests of anybody - much less State Law Enforcement Officers. When you vote, you should give every candidate a listen and quit pigeon-holing them into one party or the other. Florida used to have statesmen legislators. Not these days. Their votes are all controlled by the party leaders and if they step out of line with a vote, they are punished. They no longer represent the views of their constituents. They represent the views of their party leaders. My district probably has the most state jobs of any part of the state. We have a Republican legislator and they voted lock-step to screw all state employees with pension cuts and lay-offs. I don't think the majority of their constituents wanted them to vote the way they did, but the Republican Party leaders demanded them to stay in line and do as they were told. Now that a year has passed, they are being rewarded with committee appointments and other paybacks. Alex Sink was not your typical Democrat. She was an economist that worked in the Banking Industry. View the Saturday Morning business shows and see if you can find many Democrats on them. If you know the basics of economics, you can't be too liberal. Liberalism and economics don't go together. I don't see how she could have been half as bad as what we ended up with. Other than reducing the size of Florida Government and cutting the salaries of state workers, what exactly has Mr. Scott accomplished. Most everything he said he was going to do to get elected, he hasn't done? Where is the immigration reform he promised? Where is the drug testing of welfare recipients he promised? I'm not seeing it?

One thing the Gov is forgetting is if you pay your rank and file wages they can't live on, unless they work off duty, will be the great temptation for officers to engage in illegal activity to supplement their wages.

I see alot of officers succumbing to bribery, fraud, and other crimes out of desperation. I hope I'm wrong. However it is getting to the point where officers are getting paid so poorly that we are going to start seeing more corruption in our profession.

A $1200 bonus isn't going to alleviate this problem.

Watch the press have a field day on this consequence of the State of Florida's policy of doing everything they can to make FL LEOs to rank in the bottom 5% of wages paid in the US for police officers. The media love to publish stories on crooked LEOs. They just won't mention why this came about.

Some times the sounds of the male bovine excrement distributors is overwhelming, and they successfully confuse the less astute to believe that our present state government is evil.
Florida, as well as Texas; which coincidentally are Republican run States have NO PERSONAL INCOME TAX. These EVIL people seem to manage a balanced budget without having to collect additional incomes in the form of a State Income Tax. Understand that if you live in some of these other Democrat Bastions of financial inequality YOU would be paying the following based on a yearly salary of $30,000 to $40,000:
California 6 to 8 % depending if you are closer to 30 or to 40K
Illinois 5%
New York (You will like this one) based on a salary of 26,000 to 40,000 you pay a flat $1,200 and an additional 5.9% over 26,000.00 (Only in New York would you think of this)
Massachusetts 5.25 %
Colorado 4.63%
Do we need raises in State Law Enforcement; you bet your ASS! And we need it soon.
The only thing that I am attempting to do is to open up the dialog for balance. Yes, we need the money, but not at the cost of enacting a personal income tax that WILL NEVER GO AWAY once enacted.
The wealthy and some corporate entities are leaving states like California because of their irresponsible expenditures and abusive taxation practices. Texas is presently courting California businesses to move to Texas and so are we in Florida.
New businesses in the sate, people working and buying homes and cars and we will turn this thing around.
And yes, we will get our raises.

It would take at least a 33% pay raise to help officers make up for the last ten years. That would raise the wage for officers to about $42K. I don't think that is an outrageous sum for a patrol officer.

The problem is that the State of Florida and Rick Scott do think it is outrageous.

It would take at least a 33% pay raise to help officers make up for the last ten years. That would raise the wage for officers to about $42K. I don't think that is an outrageous sum for a patrol officer.

The problem is that the State of Florida and Rick Scott do think it is outrageous.

Lawton Childs didn’t think we were worth it either.

Some times the sounds of the male bovine excrement distributors is overwhelming, and they successfully confuse the less astute to believe that our present state government is evil.
Florida, as well as Texas; which coincidentally are Republican run States have NO PERSONAL INCOME TAX. These EVIL people seem to manage a balanced budget without having to collect additional incomes in the form of a State Income Tax. Understand that if you live in some of these other Democrat Bastions of financial inequality YOU would be paying the following based on a yearly salary of $30,000 to $40,000:
California 6 to 8 % depending if you are closer to 30 or to 40K
Illinois 5%
New York (You will like this one) based on a salary of 26,000 to 40,000 you pay a flat $1,200 and an additional 5.9% over 26,000.00 (Only in New York would you think of this)
Massachusetts 5.25 %
Colorado 4.63%
Do we need raises in State Law Enforcement; you bet your ASS! And we need it soon.
The only thing that I am attempting to do is to open up the dialog for balance. Yes, we need the money, but not at the cost of enacting a personal income tax that WILL NEVER GO AWAY once enacted.
The wealthy and some corporate entities are leaving states like California because of their irresponsible expenditures and abusive taxation practices. Texas is presently courting California businesses to move to Texas and so are we in Florida.
New businesses in the sate, people working and buying homes and cars and we will turn this thing around.
And yes, we will get our raises.

I understand the point you are trying to make, you are just not comparing apples to apples. Let me start off by saying that I do not want a state income tax and I agree with your sentiment that once started, it will be here to stay.

That being said, CHP and other LE in the state of California do not make 32K a year, not even to start. They start off closer to the 48K a year and once out of training, make 65K with increases to 84K on base salary alone, this does not include extra pay like FTO, Fitness, Bilingual, Shift Differential etc.

Those Bastions of states pay their workers fairly, that is all. The common misconception is the workers are bankrupting the states. Nonsense, it is the overspending by the politicians bankrupting the states. If FL paid its workers fairly they could do it without breaking the budget. Yes, a few less pet projects would be all it would take.

The trickle down economics has been proven wrong over and over. Since Texas is a no tax state as well, why do they actually pay a living wage. They have a lower cost of living then Florida and pay better. Why is that? Well, because they believe that properly rewarding hard work is not an entitlement that needs reform. They don't believe their workers should qualify for food stamps.

Stop trying to show me why I am lucky. Start paying me what I have earned. Enough of the BS excuses, I have heard them all.

Don’t let the “Welcome to Florida” sign hit you on the ass on your way to one of those other states.
I, for one, think that you should get paid what you think you are worth.
Incidentally, look up the cost of living and housing on those states that you think pay a great wage, things like insurance premiums taxes on fuel, heating costs,etc. add the personal income tax to that and then tell me what your “Quality of life” will be.
It aint as simple as you think spunky

For 20yrs I kept saying things will get better, figure making 5gs more than you are now in 20yrs. If you are happy with that then hang in their. There is always somebody to replace you. The state does not care. Eventually you will figure it out or move on, You get what you pay for you pay shit you get shit.

Don’t let the “Welcome to Florida” sign hit you on the ass on your way to one of those other states.
I, for one, think that you should get paid what you think you are worth.
Incidentally, look up the cost of living and housing on those states that you think pay a great wage, things like insurance premiums taxes on fuel, heating costs,etc. add the personal income tax to that and then tell me what your “Quality of life” will be.
It aint as simple as you think spunky

Ok Sparky, Let me put another issue in front of you that you are not considering. Why do you think those people retire to FL. Let me explain why. This problem is not about when you are working, but is mostly important when you retire.

Lets say I live in CA. I pay lots of taxes, make lots of money, some things cost more, some less. Overall, yes, a 30% increase in cost of living. Now, lets look at the long term issue.

First off, all those people working for CHP, LAPD, etc. seem to be able to afford to live there. They seem to get by. Better then us when they live there or work there, maybe, maybe not. Cost of living is relative. So do they struggle, sure. So do we.

Now, when they retire, at 75% of 100K a year, they retire with 75K a year pay. They sell their 500K house and get lots of money. They actually do have cheap insurance upon retirement so that is not an issue. Lets just say though that they have to pay 1300 a month like us for retirement insurance. Now we are talking officers, not supervisors.

Monthly form CHP, I would get $6250 a month. Minus $1300 for insurance costs and we have $4950 left. I move to FL, buy a 200K home with my money from my $500k house I sold, I have 300K left in the bank, and $4950 a month after paying insurance left to spend on my lifestyle for life. Wow, that is what a Capt. here basically makes while working. And guess what genius, they are now living in FL too, paying guess what, no taxes, and getting our wonderful bargain services.

Now, lets take a FWC officer. I retire at 32K a year, so lets say with OT I was able to reach 36K a year for my years of highest pay. I get a whopping 27K a year at 75% after 25 years. Now that breaks down to 2250 a month. Now I have to pay 1300 a month for insurance still so I am left with a, drum roll, $950 to live off of. Well maybe my house is paid off or not, but so is the house of the guy that came here after retirement.

Let me see, yeah, that cost of living thing. Well hell, we now live in the same place. Only he has 4K a month more to live on then me.

Your argument is BS and flawed. You are the reason we get paid like crap. There is no excuse for the lousy pay. Cost of living is not the only reason they get paid well.

Use your brain a little here. Having lived in the other states, I would rather be there now. I can tell you that FL is not the lowest state in the country to live in cost of living wise. Comparative to wages it is actually pretty bad. Even a complete double of cost of living, which is nowhere near what the actual difference is would only account to a equal pay of 64K a year. So why do they make 100K a year. Oh yeah, they might lose 7, 8, 9% in taxes, but there services are better, cheaper, and cost of average items is cheaper. Don't believe me, go there sometime if you can afford to travel there.

Good luck