Mayor Donna Deegan is assembling a more expensive City Hall executive team than that of her predecessor, Lenny Curry.
An analysis of salary data provided by Deegan Chief Communications Officer Philip Perry and a public records request to the city for Curry administration salary data shows salaries for Deegan’s 18-member staff total $3.18 million.
That’s 23% more than the $2.59 million annual payroll of Curry’s 18-employee team when he left office July 1.
Collectively, the salary expenses for positions Deegan carried over from the previous administration are roughly flat compared with the pay of their counterparts under Curry.
In the Deegan administration, those 11 spots — chief administrative officer, chief financial officer, interim general counsel, chief of staff, director of economic development, chief communications officer, deputy chief administrative officer, director of intergovernmental affairs, director of strategic partnerships, director of boards and commissions and executive assistant to the mayor — will earn a combined $2.1 million. That’s equal to the similar roles in Curry’s office.
What’s new and what’s out
The Deegan administration added seven new positions to the mayor’s staff that will make a combined annual $1.08 million.
Those include director of strategic initiatives & liaison to the press; chief of diversity and inclusion; director of community initiatives; deputy chief of staff; City Council liaison; and executive director of health programs.
The seventh is Chief Health Officer Dr. Sunil Joshi. According to Perry, Joshi’s pay could vary. The chief health officer is a part-time, paid $60 per hour up to 25 hours per week. Joshi’s maximum pay will be $78,000 annually.
Deegan created the new roles to help fulfill her campaign promises to make health care, government transparency and demographic diversity a focus at City Hall.
In a July 5 email, Perry said the administration will keep two special investigators to the mayor who provide security detail. Those positions are paid through the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office budget.
Other positions have been eliminated.
According to Perry, the executive assistant to the chief administrative officer, executive assistant to the deputy chief administrative officer and an administrative assistant will be cut.
The mayor also eliminated the deputy directors of intergovernmental affairs and strategic partnerships positions in her first budget, fiscal year 2023-24, Perry said in a June 23 email.
For now, those appear to be Deegan’s only cuts.
“We do not anticipate removing any additional leadership positions,” Perry said.
Other differences
There are some differences in how much Deegan and Curry officials are compensated.
Deegan Chief Administrative Officer Karen Bowling, who is returning to the position after serving under Mayor Alvin Brown, will make $55,975 per year less than Curry’s CAO Brian Hughes.
Brown lost his re-election bid to Curry in 2015.
Hughes was Curry’s chief political consultant and chief of staff before he became CAO in July 2019.
Bowling will make $275,000 annually. Hughes left City Hall with a $330,977 salary.
Deegan’s CFO, chief of staff, interim general counsel and director of economic development will all make more than their Curry equivalents.
Deegan’s Chief of Staff Pat McCollough, who was her campaign manager, will earn $35,251 more per year at $230,000 than the Curry administration’s Leeann Krieg, who makes $194,749.
City CFO Anna Brosche, a CPA and former Council president, will make $250,000 compared with Curry’s CFO Patrick “Joey” Greive at $221,707.
Perry said in a June 20 email that interim CFO Mike Weinstein will be paid Brosche’s rate until she takes the office in October 2023.
Ed Randolph, who will be Deegan’s director of economic development, will make $200,000 per year compared with $189,625 for outgoing director Kirk Wendland.
In her first city budget for FY 2023-24 that Deegan will send to Council this month, she’ll have to include a budget for the mayor’s office that includes the newly created positions. Council will have to approve that spending.
Deegan intends to take the $230,016 annual salary that Curry earned in his final year as mayor. That number is determined by a formula set by the state.
In a June 14 email, Perry said all of the incoming top staff will be leaving their current jobs to join the administration full-time except Joshi, who will keep his private medical practice.
Joshi is an allergist and immunologist for Baptist Health.
For a high-resolution PDF of the chart below, click here.
