Miami Mayor Francis Suarez on Wednesday vetoed a controversial vote by the city commissioners that would give them lifetime pensions.
Last Tuesday's 3-2 vote revived a pension program that ended in 2009 during the financial crisis. The mayor's veto reverses this decision.
Under the program, commissioners and the city's mayor would become eligible for a pension after serving seven years in office.
"In this intervening veto period, the City Attorney advised me that if I signed the legislation and took the pension, it would create a vested right that could not be undone by any subsequent commission action or reconsideration," Suarez wrote in his veto message. "This would have guaranteed me a benefit of over four million dollars. As I approach 16 years of public service, I never expected or sought such a benefit, and I do not believe it is fair for the hardworking, taxpaying residents of this city to bear it."
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The proposal was brought forward by Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela, who argued that the commissioner's job is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and that the pensions are fair.
The city commission still has the power to override the mayor's veto with a four-fifths vote.