Alachua County Commission changes course, sets minimum salary for law enforcement and corrections officers at $55,000

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their August 22 Special Meeting, the Alachua County Commission deferred a discussion on a proposed development near the Mill Creek Sink in the City of Alachua, discussed some budget requests, and agreed to set the minimum salary for law enforcement and corrections officers at $55,000.

Mill Creek Sink

During the approval of the agenda, County Manager Michele Lieberman explained that the agenda item about the proposed Tara Forest West development in the City of Alachua was not on the agenda as requested because the City of Alachua told the County that the item would not come before their board for two or three months; the board had previously been told that it would be discussed at the Alachua City Commission’s August 26 meeting. Lieberman said staff would bring back more information on the property at the County Commission’s regular meeting on September 24. Environmental Protection Director Steve Hofstetter told the board that the City of Alachua said construction cannot begin until the final plat is approved, and that will be “a few months out.”

Departmental budget requests

Assistant County Manager Tommy Crosby said the County Attorney’s office, County Manager’s office, and Communications office did not have any new budget requests. Human Resources requested a new Executive Director position and software to track compliance for FMLA leaves. The Environmental Protection Department had seven requests: a climate specialist, a senior land planner for agricultural lands, a land preserve ranger, and four pieces of equipment. Alachua County Fire Rescue (ACFR) requested three new positions: a senior fiscal assistant, a network specialist, and a new captain for logistics, along with some equipment replacements and a new fire tower for training purposes. 

ACFR Chief Harold Theus said hiring and retention is improving, and Chair Mary Alford asked how childcare fits into that. Theus replied, “It’s not something that we consider, other than – in the collective bargaining agreement, when someone is forced to work a mandatory overtime assignment… they’re allowed to have five childcare deferments per year.”

Alford said she’d had conversations with a few firefighters who said it is difficult to find good quality, 24-hour childcare, “so that’s related to another goal I have for another day.”

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler asked whether firefighters have issues with housing, and Theus said that when newly-hired firefighters are moving to the area, the department helps them partner up to share an apartment.

Minimum salary for law enforcement and corrections officers

Next, Sheriff Emery Gainey spoke to the board about his budget requests for salary increases to match the recent increase to a $60,000 minimum for officers at Gainesville Police Department (GPD) and  a similar increase to a $60,000 starting salary in Marion County; he said those changes “put us at a significant disadvantage.”

In response to Commissioner Ken Cornell’s assertions at the previous budget meeting that Gainey should have brought this up before the MSTU millage was set, Gainey said his agency was not aware of these efforts “until about a month and a half ago.” Gainey said Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies currently start at $50,000, which would move to $53,000 in the next fiscal year due to the 6% County increases across the board.

Gainey emphasized that his agency has already lost two recruits who were “literally one week away from graduation in the Police Academy” to GPD, and at that point, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ASO) had paid for those recruits to go through the Academy along with their salaries during that time. He said they’re obligated to pay back the training dollars, about $4,500, but ASO calculated that they had been paid about $16,000 each in salaries over that period: “That’s gone. We’ll never get that back… So our concern is that we’ll lose additional folks if we don’t address this gap.”

Gainey acknowledged that GPD officers have to contribute more of their salary to their retirement, but “even if you back that out, it’s about $57,300.” He said the County doesn’t need to match $60,000, but he would appreciate “something as close thereto as we can.” He said that lapsed salaries could cover the increase this year, “and then have discussions with the Commission ahead of time” for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Cornell said that since the previous meeting, he had reached out to surrounding agencies and had confirmed that Marion County and GPD are moving to $60,000. He said, “I’m not in favor of moving to $60,000, but I do think if we can find a way through lapsed salaries to find a way to go from 53 to perhaps 55 this year, that would be appropriate.” He asked Gainey how many vacancies he currently has.

Gainey said that when he took office in October 2023, there were 248 vacant positions, and they’ve hired 172 people since then. With attrition, that’s a net increase of 107, so there are currently about 141 vacancies. 

Crosby said he was not comfortable with using lapsed salaries for this purpose because they are one-time funds, and salary increases are ongoing expenses. He also did not recommend increasing salaries across the whole pay scale, although he acknowledged that the agency might need to get the minimum salary up to be competitive, but “certified law enforcement… only, not corrections, not the jail.”

Cornell asked Gainey whether he was talking about increasing the base pay for both law enforcement and corrections, and Gainey said that is his goal, but “Currently we’re not at parity because they’re working 84 hours, quite frankly… Be aware that we’re making a move to get them there.”

Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Chief Financial Officer Patty Justice reminded the board, “We do have a bargaining unit, and we’ve already signed a contract, and we’ve already agreed to some sort of plan.” She said her calculation of the cost to raise the minimum to $55,000 and avoid compression for law enforcement is $625,000; she added that security for the courts is separate at $100,000, and the jail would be $760,000, for a total of $1.4 million.

Crosby: “We’re financially strong. We’ll be okay.”

Crosby said the County had negotiated a three-year contract with firefighters, and the raise being discussed for law enforcement would be two years’ worth of the firefighters’ raises. He said the law enforcement raises would dip into the MSTU reserves, which is not illegal but would be against the policy set by the board. He added, “Whatever you decide, we’re still good financially. We’re financially strong. We’ll be okay.”

Commissioner Anna Prizzia said, “It concerns me when things like this, big chunks like this – and this happened last year, too – big chunks come at us after we’ve already made our budget requests… I just feel like jumping into this, like that quick, is problematic, and I have to say, I’m not really that in favor of it. I also feel like it’s not fair to our other employees.”

Cornell said he thought it was “a little different” because they were talking about raising the base, as opposed to across the board, and Prizzia responded, “They asked for everyone, across the board.” Gainey said that wasn’t accurate: “We asked for across the board for the line level officers, not everyone”; he clarified that the request didn’t include supervisors: “Sworn officers, basically.”

Prizzia said she didn’t have enough information to make a decision at that meeting.

Chestnut: “People really believe in public safety”

Commissioner Chuck Chestnut said they needed to “address some of this issue either this year or next year. It has to happen because – people really believe in public safety, fire and law enforcement… It’s becoming competitive, you know, we’re in a situation because our colleagues across the street decided to raise theirs at 60… I really don’t want to kick it down the road because – no offense to anyone, but the Sheriff did come in and, I would say, inherit a nightmare, in a sense, in terms of actually two hundred-some officers down and then to bring it back up just a little, and still has a long way to go. So we’re going to have to address it, either way.” 

Crosby said a decision to implement the salary increases could lead to increases in the MSTU and property tax rates in the 2025-26 fiscal year because the increases in property values are slowing and construction costs for County projects are rising, which will lead to increased debt payments on large capital projects that are pending, including a court building and the Animal Services building.

Chestnut said Crosby had kept Alachua County in good financial shape and thanked him for his service; he said, “We made the tough decisions – and not criticizing my colleagues across the street [at the City], [but] they should have done the same thing, and they would have been in the same position we’re in… that they’re not in now.” He said, however, “The younger generation, it’s about the dollar. They go where the highest dollar is, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Lieberman said this was the final budget meeting, so staff could bring back follow-ups, but there would not be any future budget meetings to discuss law enforcement salaries. 

Wheeler said she was “enjoying the fact” that Fire Rescue and ASO are working well together, and “I’d like to see us focus, too, on what the needs of our law enforcement are, as well.” She also expressed disappointment that GPD would hire ASO’s people from the Academy.

Alford said she leaned “towards not doing anything right now but continuing to look at this.” She said they could increase the salaries mid-year if needed.

Cornell: “What I would like is to perhaps handle the law enforcement piece this year and defer the corrections piece until next year”

Cornell said he was “leaning more towards where Commissioner Chestnut is. What I would like is to perhaps handle the law enforcement piece this year and defer the corrections piece until next year… I would like to kind of see if we can get the Sheriff’s department and public safety and fire department aligned.”

Raises will likely require future tax increases

Lieberman said the fire assessment fees and law enforcement MSTU tax don’t completely fund those departments, so “you’re going to have to have a corresponding increase from our General Fund.”

Cornell said that next year, they may need to keep the millage flat instead of reducing it: “I’ve never said that on the County Commission. I’ve always said I want to reduce it, and I still am saying I want to reduce it… and I probably may have to get there next year, where we are actually flat.”

Gainey pointed out that the cost of replacement cars is “going through the roof,” and Fire Rescue is having the same problem. “Car repairs are going through the roof,” he said. “So this is an issue that’s not just salaries – it’s operating, period.”

Prizzia: “I think we need to do something, and public safety is our number one priority”

Prizzia said, “I guess I maybe wasn’t as clear before – I agree with you 100%. I mean, I think we need to do something, and public safety is our number one priority… I just want to be careful about making these decisions at the last minute like this.” She asked whether Gainey is having more trouble retaining people in law enforcement or in the jail, and Gainey said, “Right now, [vacancies are] higher in the jail, quite frankly.”

Prizzia said, “Our jail numbers are the highest they’ve been in a really long time, and we have less people taking care of those people. So I don’t feel like we can really just do law enforcement… We need to be thinking about both.” She said she would be in favor of increasing the minimum pay, “and then as part of that two- or three-year plan, we do that compression study.” She said everyone else will still get the 6% raise and the increased health insurance benefit.

Motion to raise base salary for law enforcement

Cornell made a motion to ask the Sheriff to “adjust base salary for law enforcement this year and then work with the Sheriff’s Department staff to come up with a two-to-three-year plan that is more in alignment with fire safety’s kind of plan to look at, the next two to three years.”

Crosby said, “From a budget standpoint, I’m not in a race with [GPD]. Now, we need to look at comparisons with other deputies in Marion County and other counties… We’ll be happy to work with the Sheriff on that. But… those numbers [from ASO] just scare me to death.”

Cornell reiterated that ASO’s minimum pay is $5,000 less than Marion and Leon Counties. “The Sheriff could have… asked for more, but he’s trying to work with us all. So I appreciate that,” he said.

Gainey said, “We at least need to be competitive enough to have a fighting chance to retain employees.”

Cornell offered to add corrections to his motion, but Chestnut said, “No, just law enforcement. That’s what I’m concerned about at this point. We can make that up with the jail later in our discussions.”

Prizzia said, “Maybe we don’t end up with so many people in our jail to begin with, if we get things earlier and we’re doing community policing strategies?”

Gainey said, “I love that. But remember, it’s not my decision. That’s up to the State Attorney and the judge.”

Prizzia responded, “Well… Maybe if we can get ahead before they get arrested and encourage better behavior to begin with…”

Chestnut seconded Cornell’s motion. Wheeler said she would support it “if Tommy [Crosby’s] not going to quit.” Crosby laughed and said, “Like I said, you’re not going to break us either way… We’re okay.” He asked for clarification, and Cornell said his motion only addressed the starting pay. 

Cornell said the second part of his motion would address the higher salary levels in future years: “I’d like to pay everyone more, but I think this is a good way to do it, in a step fashion. That’s kind of a compromise.”

Alford said she wanted “good quality folks that are happy in their jobs” at the jail: “If we’ve got people there working 84 hours a week, honestly, these folks can’t give [the inmates] their absolute best all the time.” She said she would not vote for the motion because she thought it should include the jail staff.

Alternate motion: raise base salary for both law enforcement and corrections officers

Prizzia put an alternate motion on the floor to raise the base salary for both law enforcement and corrections officers this year and then make adjustments to avoid compression over the next two to three years and also align salaries with “all of our public safety officers and step plans.” Cornell seconded the motion for discussion. Crosby estimated that would cost between $800k and $900k, and he said corrections officers are paid out of the General Fund, not the MSTU funds.

Crosby emphasized that Gainey will need to negotiate all of this with the union, “and unions aren’t always going to be thrilled” about an increase that only affects the bottom rung. He said all they can do is communicate to the Sheriff that they’re agreeing to the additional funding and the intent is to have a starting salary of $55,000.

After public comment, Gainey clarified that the base “for everybody” would be at “whatever minimum we can negotiate with the union.”

The board unanimously voted to set base pay at $55,000 for both law enforcement and corrections officers.