A controversial ordinance that was approved during the COVID-19 pandemic, was suspended under the argument of the current administration that the benefits to former elected officials of Doral are directly impacting the finances of the city.
Rafael Pineyro, vice mayor of Doral, explains that “when you run for public office, you run with the service in mind, you don’t run thinking that you will have a lifetime pension.”
Under this argument, the new Doral administration managed to suspend the ordinance that was adopted in 2021.
Christi Fraga, mayor of Doral, says that this “was an ordinance that gave elected officials in the past, a benefit, a salary for the rest of their lives, (pension) for life from their salary plus health insurance and benefits” .
According to the mayor, the ordinance was aggressive with Doral’s public funds. “It is important to use these funds for the public benefit, not the benefit of an individual.”
This Wednesday with three votes in favor and two against the ordinance was suspended.
Carlos Sabando, a resident of Doral, states that “as a resident and also part of the Doral foundation I feel very satisfied, happy, calm, I am going to sleep in peace because we are not indebting the city with previously elected officials.”
“We are talking about that for this fiscal year it was representing 355 thousand dollars of the city budget, projected to 10 years we are talking about more than 3.5 million dollars that we are saving to the city”, remarks Rafael Pineyro, vice mayor of Doral.
“It was 50% of the last salary received if the person had been in office for 8 years or 100% of the last salary received by the elected official if the person served the city for 12 years or more,” explains Pineyro, vice mayor of the Doral.
As of February 8, by unanimous vote, the Doral Council had authorized the legal opinion of government pension experts for an independent review of the ordinance to determine if it had been adopted in accordance with Florida law.
“The report of this legal expert indicated that the way it was approved, adopted in 2021, was in violation of Florida statutes,” confirms Rafael Pineyro, vice mayor of Doral.
The current mayor of the city comments that “there were reports that they had to make and that they had to submit to the state for approval in order to make a pension. That was not done.”
Councilors Digna Cabral and Oscar Puig-Corve voted against repealing the ordinance but abstained from making statements on camera.
This ordinance directly benefited former officials who had served eight years or two full terms in office and who were reaching the age of 60.
