The City of Miami, faced with dire budget shortfalls, passed a controversial spending plan early Tuesday, in which the city invoked a financial urgency statute that allowed it to rewrite union contracts for one year. That move came after city officials had already cut employee salaries. Earlier this month the city’s firefighter’s union filed a lawsuit over the pay cuts, which came after unions had earlier agreed to defer raises to help balance the budget. Miami’s fiscal officials have said that the city’s pension obligations, which are currently more than one fifth of the city’s budget, and will only grow, are not sustainable.
