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Superior Officers Association

Police Department of Nassau County, New York

 

Police Department County of Nassau, New York

Superior Officers Association Police Department of Nassau County, New York -  

Superior Officers Association Police Department of Nassau County, New York

 
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Brian Hoesl,  First Vice President
E-mail: Nassoa@aol.com

Superior Officers Association Police Department of Nassau County, New York

 

Legislation Update – Albany

 The first time I headed onto the New York State Thruway for the ride to Albany as your legislative representative was 10 years ago.  Back in 2002 we approached each session with plans on how to improve our benefits from the previous year. How quickly times change!  In recent years, with the unjustified onslaught against pubic employee compensation, we find ourselves concentrating on retaining what we have and preventing any erosion to existing benefits.  This year will be no exception as the Governor opened the session with his State of the State address, in which he declared his intention to drastically change the retirement system as we know it.

 It was only two years ago that we were faced with the establishment of the Tier V pension plan for all state employees.  When originally introduced it was devastating.  However, we were able to negotiate many changes that softened the blow.  While Tier V saw the establishment for the first time of a contributory plan for the Police and Fire System, we were able to maintain most of the other benefits from Tier II.  Tier VI is much worse.

 To give you an idea of how drastic a change the Governor is proposing consider these provisions of the new plan:

     1)     Final average salary based on your last 5 years (from current 3 years)

2)     No overtime included in FAS

3)     Introduction of a 401K style plan as an option for state employees (Police and Fire would have no disability or line of duty death benefits under a 401K plan) 

4)     Employee contribution rate of between 4% and 6%, however if the employer rate goes over 14% of salary (as it is now) the employee must make up half the difference with no cap

5)     Take out the minimum contribution rate of 4.5% for employers (not having this in place in the past is the reason their rate is so high now – so much for learning from past mistakes)

6)     Increase by-back for military service from 3% to 6% of salary

7)     Surprisingly the 20 year plan for Police and Fire was kept, we were fully expecting a 25 year plan to be proposed.  I guess with all the above cuts there was no need for further savings.

8)     Cap on all pensions of $179,000 (the Governor’s salary).  Is this a plan to boost his salary or an ego thing, as the Governor’s salary hasn’t been raised in over 10 years?  So maybe this is only a negotiating tactic, I hope so!  I guess it is another way to get at all those school superintendent salaries he often complains about because as stated below this is well above the average P&F pension in this state.

 

Sound like something you would like to trade your pension in for?  I think not.  But unfortunately the business community and the media will not be happy until they entirely gut your pension plan.  They ignore the fact that the average NYS employee pension is $19,000 a year, with the average Police/Fire pension at $39,000 a year.  The simple truth is this, 30 years ago 84% of US workers at medium to large US companies received a defined benefit pension the same as we do, yet today that figure is only 30%.  The rest of the world now relies on 401K style plans, something that were originally started as savings plans to supplement a pension.  They were never designed to replace a pension but business leaders soon found out they could save millions by replacing their employees’ plan with a 401K, and the money they save could go into their pocket.  So here we are in 2012, and most of the public took a bath with their plans in the recent economic downturn.  Business leaders now point to public sector worker’s pensions and insinuate that these expenses are what are ruining the economy.   After all, if they get us to accept a 401K plan then their own employees will stop asking them for a defined benefit plan. Unfortunately many politicians are jumping on the bandwagon because of a slanted publicity campaign by business/media groups that is attempting to sway public opinion against us.  As one example of this the “Committee to Save New York”, a group of very rich businessmen (you know, the ones who pay 14% in income taxes), have spent a record $14 million on lobbying and advertising this year to help promote the Governor’s agenda which they hope will eventually put more money in their pockets as opposed to yours, not to mention the huge fees that are generated by 401K plans for the investment groups.  We have our work cut out for us and will strive to keep our benefits intact so as to not  ruin this job for future generations.  The people that came before us helped make this job as good as it is today, I believe it is our duty to continue the fight.

 

The Governor's decision to put the above Tier VI proposal into the budget was intentionally done to force Legislators to deal with this issue before the April 1st budget deadline.  That, unfortunately, does not give us much time.  We have meetings set up next week with the Governor’s counsel to go over key provisions of the bill.  We have already started to meet with Legislative leaders to voice our opposition; hopefully we will be able to make some headway to minimize the damage.

 

We also have our full agenda of bills that we propose every year as well as some new issues we will address.  Listed below are some of the newer bills that I have not mentioned before.  They will cover the following topics:

 

1)     A bill to grandfather in members who received a permanent partial disability status from Worker’s Comp before December of 2010, and now are being denied chiropractic or physical therapy treatment as originally guaranteed due to recent rule changes.

2)     A bill to provide a ¾ disability pension for members on active military duty who are wounded and unable to return to work (we previously passed a bill for members killed in action that gave them the same death benefits as if they suffered a LOD death, but as of now there is no provision for a ¾ disability pension).

3)     A bill to protect police officers from harassment on the Internet for actions taken in connection with their official duties. 

4)     A bill to prevent an Internet data base from publishing names and addresses of police officers in regards to salary or pistol permits.

5)     A bill to mandate the issuance of a pistol permit to a retired police officer without unnecessary delay, which seems to be a problem in some upstate communities by local sheriff’s offices.

 

State of the County

 What is new with the County?  Well, to put it briefly, as of this writing nothing is new.  I know the PBA has been having constant discussions with them in order to see if there is any room for compromise in settling this pay freeze dispute but so far nothing has happened.  By the time you read this article that might have all changed but it doesn’t look overly promising.  But you can never tell, perhaps NIFA and the County will come to their senses and work something out but it seems like we might be just waiting for the outcome of our lawsuit.  I think our position closely parallels the PBA’s so we will have to see if they make any progress. 

 As always, any questions on any of the above items please call me at the office or email me at nassoa@aol.com

 

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Election Endorsements and Union Rally

 First I would like to thank all of our members, both active and retired, who showed up at the recent labor rally to protest the introduction of the “Nassau County Fiscal Crisis Reform Act”.  The mere thought of this law is so egregious to all union members that people from all over the state showed up to demonstrate their opposition.  I want to thank our brothers and sisters in the union movement (fire, corrections, teachers, and CSEA) for their attendance, especially the police unions that showed up from NYPD, Suffolk PD, NYS Troopers, Port Authority PD, MTA PD, as well various village, city, and town departments from Nassau and Suffolk.  It was heartwarming to see the support we received and are very happy that we can count on over one million public sector employees throughout the state to support us in this battle with our County Executive. 

 Moving on to the upcoming election, I am sure that you have all received by now our PEC newsletter in the mail with our recommendations for the County Legislature and other local races.  These selections are repeated here in this issue of the Gold Shield along with those of the Suffolk SOA for our members residing out east.  We hope that you will consider our choices and vote on Nov. 8th. 

 I imagine the one glaring difference in our endorsements from prior elections is the fact that we were unable to endorse any of the Republican Legislators running except for one.  The reason was quite simple; it was the issue of police layoffs and the Fiscal Crisis Reform Act.  We could not bring ourselves to endorse anyone who would even consider layoffs at the present time, nor anyone who would vote for unconstitutional laws.  The simple fact regarding layoffs is this: the NCPD, during the mid 1970’s, hit our highest staffing levels when we employed approximately 3900 sworn members. Our head count today stands at 2390!  This department has been cut nearly in half because of budget constraints.  When does the Legislature admit that we are at our lowest possible staffing level?  Any police officer on this job can answer that question; we are there now!  Only the Democratic candidates and one Republican, Joe Belesi, stood up for what was right and told us that they would not lay off police officers at these staffing levels.

 So what other options has the County Executive put forward?  Top on the list is the “Fiscal Crisis Reform Act”, a law to give the County Executive the power to throw out contacts when he declares a fiscal crisis. The mere suggestion of this was enough to bring thousands of demonstrators from all over the state to the front lawn of the County Legislative Building last week.  If the County Executive truly believes that this bill is constitutional he should get it passed so we can start the battle.  The end result will be the waste of more taxpayer dollars on lawsuits, as he did with the re-districting lawsuit and the Coliseum election.  Unfortunately his other suggestions include closing precincts, laying off CSEA workers, and selling County property.  These options will only result in the public receiving fewer services than they do now.  People hate high taxes, but tax them without delivering good services and they are really going to be upset.

 Many of the Republican candidates were friends whom we had supported in the past, and it was a difficult decision to go against them now.  However, it is the leaders of their delegation putting forth these options and when they don’t stand up to disagree with them we have to assume that they agree with this nonsense.  Solidarity is great; just make sure the people you are following know what they are doing!  The mantra of the Republican Party nationwide has seemed to evolve into “the fiscal crisis is all the public employees’ fault”, while discounting all other government spending.  We had hoped the Nassau Republicans were above this but, led by the County Executive, this appears to be their position.  Sooner or later I believe that the Republicans will realize that they are turning off many blue-collar workers who had supported them in the past.  To me the most extreme example of this is that the Republicans, who always touted themselves as the law and order party, would be willing to rip up contracts that were legally negotiated.  What happened to abiding by the law of the land?  It is very disappointing to me that someone would throw out their core beliefs in order to save their job.  The one thing I admire about the Democrats is that they are not afraid to buck their own party if they do not believe in the message.  Maybe this is something that the Republicans need to learn.  All this being said we have told the County Executive, time and time again, that we were willing to work with him to get them through the rough times.  But we are unwilling to be the only solution to a problem that we did not create, and when he finally becomes reasonable we are more than willing to listen.  Unfortunately, as the rhetoric heats up, it will become more difficult than ever to come to terms.  It took years with our last County Executive, who used the same tactic of negotiating contracts in the press, to realize this does not work.  Maybe we need to tone down those press releases Ed!  

 Please review our endorsements and we ask you and your family members to seriously consider our choices and vote on Election Day.  This is one election that you cannot afford to sit out!

 Legislation Update - Albany

 Here is a quick update for you on our bills that were passed during the 2011 session that I had no disposition for in the last Gold Shield report.  Of the ten major pieces sent to the Governor’s desk we managed to get nine signed into law, an outcome that we were obviously very pleased with.  In addition to the four reported signed in my last report here are the results:

 

1) S5651/A7834         Retirement notice 30-15 days – Changes the minimum filing time required to submit your retirement papers to the state from 30 days to 15 – signed by Governor on 8/3/11 Chapter 375

 

2) S5653/A5744A      NYPD 20 year guarantee – Guarantees NYPD members their pension after 20 years except for felony conviction for crimes related to their employment – signed by Governor on 9/23/11 Chapter 514 – big win for the NYPD members.                                             

 

3) S5658/A8456A       Black Powder Bill – adds black powder firearms to the list of firearms prohibited for possession by felons (the NY State Police have had two Troopers recently killed         by felons armed with black powder rifles) – signed by Governor on 8/3/11 Chapter 357                

 

4) S5234A/A7751A    Califano memorial bridge – names the L.I.E. overpass near the site of P.O. Michael Califano’s death in his name – signed by Governor on 8/3/11 Chapter 312

 

5) S5837/A7605A       Tier V pre tax contributions – changes contributions by Tier V members to pre-tax dollars, they are currently deducted post tax.  This change gives them equity with all other pension plans that require contributions – signed by Governor on 9/23/11 Chapter 525

 

6) S5098/ A4954         Civil service health insurance guarantee - guarantees your health insurance when out on a line of duty injury – Vetoed by the Governor, veto message 60.  This was our one major disappointment.  We will continue to work on this bill next year.

 

As always, any questions on any of the above items please call me at the office or email me at nassoa@aol.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   



  HELPFUL LINKS FOR UP-TO-DATE
LEGISLATION

 http://www.senate.state.ny.us/

  http://assembly.state.ny.us/ 

  http://sobb.com/states/newyork/nylinks.html

 http://www.state.ny.us/

Superior Officers Association Police Department of Nassau County, New York

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