TAMPA, Fla. — On top of a $96,000 pension, a unanimous city council vote on Thursday approved a three-year contract for Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw, who will receive an annual salary of $241,000 to remain in his current role after he officially retires this September.
Under the agreement, he can also receive pay raises associated with performance reviews and adjustments for cost of living.
The contract originally came with questions when city administration first proposed it in April. Tampa City Councilman Bill Carlson said it “blindsided” the council and it was “badly conceived.” Carlson added that he hoped there would be more transparency with the public next time he saw this plan. The agreement was withdrawn from that meeting and put on hold for a few weeks.
At the meeting Thursday, members of the community and city council lauded the chief.
“He’s a very good man. He is a very humble man. He is a man with an academic background. He has a great temperament, which is so important in not just being a law enforcement officer but being chief of police,” Councilman Luis Viera said.
The police department had four chiefs over the last four years including interim chiefs, and they need stability, he added.
“His vision for a safer, more connected Tampa has had a profound impact, and we are thrilled to continue this journey with him," Mayor Jane Castor said in a statement.
Councilman Charlie Miranda said he was approving the proposal because ultimately, whether the chief stays or leaves, the salary and the pension are going to be in place. If Bercaw retired, he would receive his pension and a new chief would get the salary. If he stayed, he would receive the pension and salary, so the numbers are the same, Miranda explained.
“He has earned his position,” he said.
In a memo to council, city attorney Andrea Zelman said the chief would not be "double dipping" by receiving a pension and salary because pension payments are compensation for work previously performed and any future salaries would be for work being currently performed.
10 Investigates spoke to Florida TaxWatch CEO Dominic Calabro about so-called "double dipping," which some say happens when government workers draw a pension from one job while receiving an often large, taxpayer-funded salary from another.
"What we're saying is, 'Look, let's be fair and reasonable.' We want to make sure we have talented people like this particular chief of police, but at the same time, let's be careful and understand that the hardworking taxpayers in the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County, I mean, some of them are really struggling," he said.
"They're struggling with food prices and all kinds of things -- cost of living and inflation, particularly housing costs...homeowner's insurance. You've got to be sensitive. So when they see somebody making this kind of compensation, it stands out to them. And I think you've got to make a case that...you've balanced things out," he said.
Under the current agreement, Bercaw will remain police chief until 2027 unless he is fired. The contract will automatically renew for successive terms of one year for a maximum of four additional years.
The council also issued the chief, who lives in Pasco County, another one-year waiver from a rule requiring department leaders to live within city limits.
Bercaw joined the department in 1997. He became interim chief in December 2022 after Mary O’Connor resigned when an internal investigation found she violated department policies. Video shows her apparently flashing her badge at a traffic stop asking the officer to let her go.
In June 2023, the city council voted to make Bercaw the permanent chief.
He holds a doctorate in criminal justice from St. Leo University and two degrees from the University of South Florida: a master’s in criminal justice administration and a bachelor’s in criminology.