Former Doral officials sue city for revoking their lifetime pensions. The mayor responds

Four former Doral city officials filed a lawsuit in response to the city council’s revocation of a pension plan that gave the city’s elected officials lifetime pension, health and life insurance.

The Elected Officials Pension Plan was approved in January 2021 and revoked in June 2023. It benefited elected officials who served at least eight years or two full terms, no longer held office, and had reached age 60.

The council repealed the pension plan with support from council members Maureen Porras and Rafael Pineyro. Council members Oscar Puig-Corve and Digna Cabral, who were part of the previous government and had voted in favor the pension plan, voted against revoking it. The lawsuit was filed nine days later.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, was filed by four former Doral employees, including former mayor Juan Carlos Bermúdez, now a Miami-Dade commissioner, and former council member Pedro Cabrera, who proposed the pension plan. Former council members Michael DiPietro and Sandra Ruiz joined the lawsuit.

Now Mayor Christi Fraga is urging the four officials who are parties to the lawsuit to reconsider, she told the Herald.

“I urge you to reconsider your actions and demonstrate true leadership by rescinding the lawsuit and returning the retirement plan money that was unlawfully awarded,” Fraga wrote in a May 8 letter to former Mayor Bermúdez and ex-council members Cabrera, Ruiz, and DiPietro. “Our residents deserve transparency, accountability, and ethical behavior from their former public officials.”

The four plaintiffs told el Nuevo Herald they never received any letter from Fraga. The letter was made available to el Nuevo Herald by a former political candidate in Doral.

Fraga said that the letter was sent by regular post mail. “The post office may be running slower,” she said.

Fraga had stated to el Nuevo Herald that the approved pensions were “immoral” and unaffordable for Doral.

“Right now, it represents $500,000 annually, but in the long term, it could amount to up to $10 million, depending on how many people benefit from that pension,” the mayor said.

The ordinance from 2021 entitled elected officials who served eight years or two full terms to a pension equivalent to 50% of the average of their last three years of compensation. Those who served 12 or more years could qualify for a pension equivalent to 100% of the average of their last three years of compensation. In addition, pensioners qualify for medical and life insurance.

During the April 12 council meeting, attorney Glenn E. Thomas from the law firm Lewis, Longman and Walker, who was hired to prepare a report on the legality of the pension, said the plan includes retroactive benefits for former elected officers who left office before the Elected Officials’ Plan was implemented, which is prohibited by Florida Statutes.

Thomas told the council that public employees or officers are not entitled to compensation that was not part of their employment terms at the time.

The plaintiffs respond

Ruiz, a three-term councilwoman until 2016, told el Nuevo Herald that Fraga sending the plaintiffs a letter is “beyond the norm” amidst ongoing litigation.

Ruiz and DiPietro were not part of the Doral government when the pension plan was approved. Ruiz received benefits from the pension plan for at least a year until it was revoked. Although she mentioned to the Herald that she does not recall the exact amount she was getting, political news website Florida Politics reported it was $3,700 per month.

Fraga “should respect the democratic process,” Ruiz said. “We have the right to seek necessary resources if we believe our rights were violated.”

Bermúdez, who is a lawyer and currently represents Doral as a county commissioner, declined to comment.

Cabrera, a council member until 2021 who ran for Doral Mayor in 2022, sent a written statement to el Nuevo Herald stating that sending a letter on official City letterhead without City Council approval was “unethical and possibly crosses a legal line.”

“Due to the pending lawsuit I cannot comment further except that in due time the full truth will be known and hopefully it will put an end to this political rhetoric.”

The letter is dated May 8, the same day as the council meeting where changes to alcoholic beverage sales regulations were approved following the Martini Bar shooting. However, the mayor did not address this topic during the city’s public meeting.

“That letter is a publicity stunt; she is campaigning for reelection,” Ruiz said. “She already held a press conference to discuss this, and now she sends out letters that no one has received. This is a political circus.”

Fraga disagrees. “Nothing to defend rights that contribute to quality of life of Doral residents should be seen as politics, it is not politics, I have a commitment from the beginning, not one dollar should be used to benefit a group.”

Fraga is one of the elected officials who may benefit from the pensions she opposes. “We have 401(k) plans, insurance, and salaries. Why should we run the city as if it were our own business?”