HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem #07 - Discussion ItemCITY OF MIAMI. FLORIDA
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO:
FROM:
Me •-r- of e
Citmmisso
st
ey
DATE:
SUBJECT:
REFERENCES:
ENCLOSURES:
May 9, 1973
Pension Raise
FILE:
MIA-73-20
This opinion is in response to your request for an
opinion concerning increases in pensions for retired City of
Miami employees. Your inquiry is concerned with the follow-
ing three questions:
1. MAY FUNDS BE APPROPRIATED FROM TAX MONIES
TO INCREASE PENSION BENEFITS TO RETIRED
EMPLOYEES?
2. MAY A SPECIFIC $25.00 MINIMUM INCREASE IN
A PENSION BE GIVEN TO CERTAIN CLASSES OF
RETIRED EMPLOYEES?
3. MAY FEDERAL REVENUE SHARING FUNDS BE USED
TO RAISE THE AMOUNT OF PENSION PAID TO
RETIREES?
The appropriation of tax money to increase pensions
for retired city employees is a legitimate expenditure of
municipal tax funds. Reference is made to a previous opinion
by this office to the effect that once an entitlement to a
pension has been established changes in the amount of the pen-
sion are authorized.
An outright payment, however, of $25.00 or some other
designated amount to certain classes of retired employees may not
be lawfully made. Such an arrangement would be discriminatory.
While pension benefits may be increased periodically
the benefits must be connected with and bear a relationship to
the value of the services previously performed by the employees.
anva.aU3C6
Members of The
City Commission
-2- May 9, 1973
Federal revenue sharing funds are not appropriate for
use to increase pension benefits now being paid to retired
personnel. While the Revenue Sharing Act gives municipalities
broad discretion with respect to permissible expenditures, the
designations with respect to the term "priority expenditures"
do not include increased pension benefits for retired employees
and there does not appear to be an indication in the Revenue
Sharing Act that pension benefits would be a reasonably antici-
pated item of expenditure to implement the purposes of the
term "priority expenditures" as it is used in the Revenue Sharing
Act.
AHR/JSL/rr
PREPARED AND APPROVED BY:
tom, .L.r
JOHN S. LLOYD
`assistant Director