The cost for taxpayers to provide Mayor Alvin Brown's security last fiscal year far exceeded what was spent in three large Florida cities.
There also is a difference in the number of officers used and the duties they perform.
As The Daily Record reported Monday, Brown's security detail for Oct. 1-Sept. 30 cost taxpayers about $310,000 in salaries and benefits. That includes $53,000 for 1,041 hours of overtime for the four Jacksonville police officers, who rotate monthly in teams of two.
By comparison:
• Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn's security is provided by a retired police officer, who is budgeted for $78,989 in salary and benefits this year. (Fiscal year 2012-13 numbers were not available but would likely have been lower because the officer received a raise this year.) The officer is exempt from overtime. A Tampa detective is used at times to avoid the officer having to work seven days a week.
• Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has one police officer assigned to drive and accompany him to events as needed, but that officer is also the liaison to the veterans council and the public safety adviser for the Mayor's Office. His salary and overtime for 2012-13 totaled $98,819.62. The cost of benefits was not available.
• Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez opted to have no taxpayer-funded protection after he was elected in 2011. Previous mayors did use a sergeant-at-arms for security. Gimenez has responsibilities across the entire county much like Brown does.
David DeCamp, Brown's director of communications, pointed out that Jacksonville mayors traditionally have had two officers assigned to them.
He added it would be "inappropriate" to compare the security details in other cities with Jacksonville without knowing the "event schedules and programs for other mayors or what the logistics for them are."
Buckhorn, who was elected in 2011, agreed that each mayor's needs for security are different. "The threat levels are different. The threat assessments are different," Buckhorn said. "… It all depends on the circumstances."
He said his officer goes with him to all of his appointments, just as Brown's security detail does. "Yesterday I had 15 appointments on schedule. It's a very brutal schedule," said Buckhorn, who also served as assistant to the mayor from 1987-95.
When the Jacksonville officers are providing security to Brown, that is their full-time assignment for the month. (When they rotate off, they returned to their regular jobs at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.)
There were a handful of occasions where the officers received overtime for reasons not related to protecting the mayor. Those hours were not included in the 1,041 overtime hours reported by the Daily Record.
Dyer's officer also has other duties within the office, specifically working with the veterans council and the police department, according to Heather Fagan, the mayor's chief of staff.
Brown's team drives him to all events, including festivals, city-sponsored events, meetings outside City Hall and private dinners. Dyer's security officer drives him to events as needed.
After hearing the details from the other cities, City Council President Bill Gulliford said he thinks "we have a huge opportunity to save some money if the mayor is all about not raising taxes."
He said the city has gone through "a horrendous economic downtown" and he'd like to take $200,000 of what is spent on Brown's security and restore funds to the cultural council, public service grants and library materials.
Because the money comes out of the Sheriff's Office budget, the council can't make line-item decisions.
Council member Richard Clark said Brown is consistently at breakfasts and lunches and "all over the place doing public appearances." "It's not as if he is putting himself in harm's way," Clark said.
He likes both the Tampa model, of using a retired officer, and the Orlando set-up, where the officer also performs other duties.
The mayor, Clark said, "needs to follow suit and look at his peer group and behave accordingly."
Gulliford also has his aide researching security costs for mayors from other cities.
He will likely find that although the Miami-Dade mayor declined security, the county spent $434,000 in 2012-13 for salaries, overtime and benefits for three sergeants-at-arms to protect 13 commissioners.
When asked what he thought is a reasonable security detail for Brown, Gulliford said the mayor should have a maximum security staff of one. But, he added, "I like the mayor of (Miami-Dade's) number best."
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