Longboat Key firefighters narrowly approved in a 16-14 vote a new employee contract that moves all current and future employees out of the town’s pension system, freezes the existing town pension plan, and moves the employees to the Florida Retirement System (FRS).

Everyone is overstating themselves with hyperbolic achievements and each is accusing the other of some horrible motive and behavior.

The Town can check into the state retirement system, but it can never leave and that may ultimately be a good thing.

The Longboat Key firefighters are less than happy to have agreed to a defined contribution pension plan after months of negotiation with Town Manager Dave Bullock. On Friday afternoon, the Manager’s bargaining team and the fire department union agreed to a three-year contract that the Manager will present to the Town Commission for consideration.

“I don’t want you to misinterpret what I am saying as we are close to an agreement. I am saying your proposal is sufficient to tweak our interest and look at in detail.”

The Town of Longboat Key narrowly avoided impasse in its contract negotiations with its Firefighter Union on Thursday

It does very little for us to solve the financial cost problem only to degrade the coverage or quality
of firefighter we can attract.

In the face of spiraling unfunded liability costs, Manager Bullock proposes to freeze all employee pensions and convert to defined contribution model.