North Miami council defers police union contract after members ask for executive briefing

The North Miami City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to defer action on a tentative collective bargaining agreement between the city and the South Florida Police Benevolent Association (PBA) until the council's June 24 meeting after several members said they had not received adequate briefings on the deal.

Council members and city staff said the contract contains changes to police pension funding, cost-of-living increases and other economic terms that require more time for review. Personnel Director Laura Woodley and the city’s outside labor counsel, Brett Snyder, presented the deal and summarized the key economic provisions, including pension changes intended to use $1.85 premium-tax receipts to offset the city's pension contribution.

The proposed agreement would increase pay and benefits for officers and sergeants, and Snyder told the council it includes a 4% cost-of-living adjustment effective Oct. 1, 2024, and a 5% adjustment effective Oct. 1, 2025, with the final scheduled adjustment effective Oct. 1, 2026. Snyder also said the bargaining package increases the cap on compensatory time from 200 to 240 hours, raises the minimum recall/court-call pay from 3.5 hours to four hours, and creates a 5% pay differential for certain special assignments, including honor guard, crisis negotiations, traffic homicide, administrative sergeant and SWAT team duties. He said pension changes and the use of premium-tax moneys would offset roughly $1.6 million of the city's pension contribution in the current fiscal year.

Mayor Desilme said he could not support moving forward without a fuller briefing. “I cannot vote for this item…I got an email about a week ago that says that we are so they were telling us as the policymaker,” he said on the record, pressing staff for clearer, earlier communication to elected officials. Multiple council members requested an executive-session-style briefing before the item returns for action. Council clerk recorded a motion to defer the item to the council’s June 24 meeting; the motion was seconded and carried 5–0.

City staff and the outside attorney said the PBA had ratified the contract at the union level and that deferral would delay implementation of the negotiated increases and benefits. At the same time, staff signaled they would schedule a closed executive-style briefing so council members could review actuarial analyses and ask detailed budget questions ahead of final action.

The council’s vote to defer means the tentative agreement remains subject to further local review. Staff said they would prepare additional financial materials and suggested an executive session or similar group briefing to allow council members to ask detailed questions about pension impacts, implementation timing and budget adjustments before the council considers final ratification.

The meeting record shows the administration summarized the contract’s principal economic terms to the council; no final approval or formal ratification by the council took place at the June 10 meeting.