time to cal the govenor please veto bad drop bill

RED ALERT! RED ALERT!
Please contact Governor Charlie Crist and ask him to veto HB 5607. We have spoken with him, explained our position to him, and he is considering a veto. We need you to help us drive the point home.

HB 5607 contains the language changing the DROP interest rate from 6.5% to 3% for everyone entering DROP on or after July 1, 2010. Many of our members are facing a difficult and unfair decision about when to enter DROP because of the looming deadline in this bill. HB 5607 unfairly changes the system to punish employees while providing the FRS with an additional 3.5% windfall earned with your retirement money. HB 5607 is nothing more than the first step in a coordinated effort to end the DROP for FRS employees.

Governor Crist has been a staunch supporter of public employees and a true friend to the PBA. He is the last chance we have to stop HB 5607 from becoming law. Time is of the essence! The decision will probably be made in the next two weeks!

Please Contact Governor Charlie Crist directly and ask him to veto HB 5607!

Governor’s Office - 850-488-7146 or charlie.crist@myflorida.com

Sincerely,

John Rivera
President
Florida Police Benevolent Association

Dear Governor Crist,

RE: HB 5607

During the legislative session, House Bill 5607 was passed and is now included in a budget implementing bill. HB 5607 was designed to reduce the amount of interest paid on deferred retirement benefits for member entering the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) on or after July 1, 2010.

The Florida Fraternal Order of Police opposed this bill that will unfairly punish those law enforcement officers who have worked for years for this benefit, many are just months from entering the DROP, only to have the benefit reduced by half. They have worked their careers with this goal in front of them and planned their future based on the rules in place.

Many FOP members will be affected by this change. We fully realize the budgetary limitations and economic situation we are faced with. However, this bill should have been prospective in nature, applicable to those just entering their law enforcement career, not those at the end who were promised this benefit.

You have been a strong supporter of law enforcement and of fairness in dealing with our professional law enforcement officers. As State President of the Florida Fraternal Order of Police, I would ask and encourage you to veto this bill.

Thank you for your service and support.

Sincerely,
James W. Preston, President
Florida State Lodge

This bill effects any and all members of FRS. The intrest is reduced from 6.5% to 3%. Make your voice heard, call write and email.

*Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
?Telephone: Citizen Services Hotline: * (850) 488-4441*
?Executive Office of the Governor Switchboard: * (850) 488-7146* [Office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time]
?Fax: (850) 487-0801
?For individuals with hearing loss or speech disability:
1-850-922-7795 (TTY) OR 711 (Florida Telecommunication Relay)
?Mailing Address
?Office of Governor Charlie Crist
State of Florida
PL-05 The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

I doubt he veto's that because it would hurt him politically as that return is higher than the FRS is getting now. Would make a great commercial to use against him.

Let us know where you can get 6.5% risk free given that 10 year T-bills yield less then 4%. The US stock market's returns were zilch during the last 10 years, especially when adjusted for inflation. It's about time the FRS reduced the DROP interest to a more reasonable rate in line with real life so that future retirees will be able to enjoy their pensions. The FRS' COLA should match the CPI instead of the automatic 3% annual increase. The FRS needs to tighten its belt like everyone else.

What you say is true. I just want our retirement system to remain solvent and not a system built on a house of sand! We are currently in financially perilous times which a lot of folks just don't get or understand! People should keep an eye on Greece because that could be the USA very soon! :cop:

We haven't had a raise in what 5 years and you people think it' s ok to cut our retirement income??? Retrement is based on the 5 best years and anyone retiring now had their 5 best 5 years ago? Go find Jeb and find some other ways to screw us will ya? It's bad enough politicians (who are also really state employees) have such disdain for us, but when our own do too, it makes me sick!!

You just don't get it, do you moron. You can't keep printing money. The state and country is broke! The US under Obama now owes 13 trillion in debt! A year and half ago it was 10 trillion! In just In just 16 months this idiot has added three trillion dollars to the national debt. You will be lucky and I mean really lucky if you will be able to retire with anything! Wake up!!!!!!!!!

I just hope and pray to God that the FRS is still around when I retire instead of being in govt. PBGC receivership and paying out 25% - 50% on the dollar in pension benefits like some of the private sector pension funds who went belly up because their deficits were too high. It's bad enough with the financial markets and economy in turmoil and idiots mostly in charge of the pension fund.

OK jeb, that's enough bad mouthing the current administration. You know full well it was your idiot brother that ran up the defecit just so he could show daddy what a big man he was. It always amazed mother and I that he got elected. We know that we have you and what's her name with the clown face to thank for that, but enough is enough go to bed like a big boy and don't forget to pull the covers up.

GHW and BABS

I'm not happy about this bill but what really blows is that it doesn't include employees already in drop. If it included the people who are currently in DROP it would drive them out. Most of these people are the greedy double dippers. The ones who have been working for the dept for 30 years and NEED to leave. Does anyone know a 30 year employee in DROP that is a go-getter, problem-solver, great asset to the department? I don't. They should just lower the percentage for a short term amount of time like two years to get out of the financial crunch that would affect current DROP employees. Drive them out which will get rid of dead weight who are getting high salaries. This would also provide promotional opportunities to people who want to work hard and want a higher position. Instead of having a bunch of sr sups who park in the handicapped parking spots (when they do come to work) who are sitting at their desks counting their retirement money while blocking employment opportunity to those who want to be there for the right reasons.

Also the new SES benefit contribution?! I recommended last year for SES to pay their insurance just like the rest of us. So they do it but have them pay less! What a slap in the face. Going the extra $20 for an individual would have just created such a hardship on the finances of an administrator?!? To have them pay but to have them pay less than us is just an insult and for just a few dollars more it would have meant a lot symbolically to have them paying the same as us.

The government is printing money we don't have. Cities are running in the red with huge deficits. California is bankrupt and 5 billion in the hole due to state, county, and city pensions. The stimulus money ran out and was only supposed to hold things for 1 year.

Unemployment is in double digits, 40 million people in food stamps or some sort of government welfare program, foreclosures are at all time high this year and the next bubble that nobody is talking about is commercial real estate.

What's the solution? Raise taxes? But how high can they raise taxes when we are already paying close to 50% of our income in taxes.

Cut taxes to stimulate investment? Nobody wants to invest their money now because they don't know what The Great Leader is going to do next year....uncertainty can be a great deterrence to investors.

Or, hunker down and ride the only constant thing in life - change!

You guys who work in the public sector (particularly law enforcement) should be thankful that (1) you have a well paying job with excellent benefits, (2) a pension that is guaranteed after 25 or 30 years with more benefits than many folks have in the private sector, (3) perks that the rest of the civilian community don't get to enjoy (i.e., a take home vehicle that allows you to "break" the law whenever you are in a "hurry" to get to the next detail, Home Depot to buy more nails, or late for roll call).

I want you to do the math and calculate how much you have contributed to your pension over 25 years and how much will be getting the "rest of your life." In a recent speech before the state legislature, NJ Governor Chrisite commented that an average public sector employee contributes (average) approximately $65,000 to their pension throughout their careers and they get paid over their lifetime in excess of 1.5 million dollars....is this fair?

I am not saying you don't deserve your pension. All I am saying is that you have to realize that the "gravy train" has come to its final stop and we simply don't have the money to continue funding an ever increasing public sector that doesn't contribute a penny to the economy.
What is happening in Greece today is a prelude of what is coming to this country tomorrow.

Some of you will argue that "we deserve it, we put our lives on the line everyday, it is a dangerous job, we are the first line of defense, we drive "balls to the wall" to get to you to "save your ass," etc, etc, etc and blah, blah, blah.

Nobody forced you to become a cop so stop bragging and pretending to be this knight in shining armor who comes to rescue the beautiful princess. Some of you who work in "lilly white" districts are so afraid to go work in the ghetto that you immediately sign up for CI or a specialized unit just to avoid doing real police work, and even when you get assigned to those districts, you will drive around the "perimeter" versus going inside and encounter 4 or 5 black guys standing in a corner selling dope.

One last reality check.....a 25 year old kid in the military today is probably serving his second or third "combat" tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. These are 7 to 18 month deployments away from their families. They live in conditions that many of you wouldn't tolerate for 3 days. They don't ***** and complaint about the general making more money than they do, or him getting a hot shower everyday or eating a catered meal versus a MRE. They are volunteers and they know what they signed up for. After 4 or 8 years, if they don't like it....they get the f...ck out of the military.

In case I forget.....their combat duty pay is an additional $125 a month; pennies when you consider what they do every day and the "real danger" that they are exposed to 24/7.

So stop complaining, be thankful, and just do your job......you will be happier and hopefully won't die of a heart attack 2 weeks after you retire due to so many years of anger, jealousy, and envy.

OK Sarah, go back to Wasilla willya? Or is it Marco? You can go jump on a plane anywhere your frequent flyer miles will take you. I'm really up to my eye balls with all the state employee bashing. We do our job without a whole lot of complaining. We don't get raises AGAIN but we have a job so we're supposed to be happy? Our insurance won't be going up but our co-pays will so we actually just got a reduction in pay AGAIN. All state employees should take the same day off and see how the rest of the state would function. No one to stamp your driver's license, no one to check out that abuse complaint, or investigate that drunk driver, or check your favorite restaurant for bugs... I could go on but you get the point. Maybe if we vanished for one day people may realize they need us and we're important to their lives.

What part of "there is no money available" don't you understand?

There's money except it's been given to the ostrich famers and every other special interest in the form of a tax exemption.