After more than six months of wrangling, discussions and continued public hearings, the Holmes Beach City Commission approved 4-1 an ordinance that amends the city’s police retirement plan to include the Deferred Retirement Option Program.
Under DROP, an officer eligible to retire now could take the lump sum already in his retirement account and withdraw from the retirement fund. The city would no longer contribute 29 percent of the officer’s pay to his/her retirement.
In return, the officer pledges to work for the city for five more years before retiring. At retirement, the officer’s monthly pension would only be the amount he or she was eligible to receive at the time the officer elected the DROP.
Two officers are currently eligible to take the DROP.
Commissioner Al Robinson voted against the ordinance. He has long been opponent of the plan, claiming there is no benefit to the city and that officers who take DROP would be benefiting from a pay increase as they would no longer contribute to a pension plan.
The commission also approved the first reading of an accompanying ordinance to the DROP that would prohibit officers who take DROP from participating in the department’s sick bank until they had worked a certain number of hours. The sick bank previously allowed officers who had used up all of their entitled annual sick days to use sick days from officers who had an excess of days remaining for the year.
Commissioners also passed the first reading of an amended live-aboard ordinance to conform to state law.
Bohnenberger said the state does not allow a municipality to regulate live-aboard vessels unless it has a dedicated mooring area. Holmes Beach does not have a dedicated mooring area, but boats also can’t “anchor up” in any waters to stay a few days, he said.
“The boat can’t impede navigation,” and the people aboard the vessel can’t make the boat their primary residence.
Vessels occasionally anchor in the Bimini Bay area for a few days, he noted.
The commission’s only regular meeting in August is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9.
