City Council members won’t receive their 2 percent salary restorations. They won’t receive an almost 6 percent compensation bump overall, either.
At least not yet.
Council members decided Tuesday evening to hold off on a decision about increasing their own compensation, possibly until all city employees receive their restorations.
Most city employees in 2010 took at least a 2 percent pay cut to help with shrinking revenue, but the latest budget includes more than $3 million to restore the losses.
Of that, $2.3 million is intended for collective bargaining with various unions, while $737,000 is to restore non-union employees’ salaries.
There are still more than 200 non-union and 1,200 collectively bargained employees who haven’t had restorations. Not putting them first caused heartburn among some council members.
“We set the leadership style,” said council member Jim Love, recalling his time in the Navy. “Our troops before us.”
Initially, the bill was to spend $25,000 to restore the council’s 2 percent cut plus benefits. Members would each receive $900 to make them whole at $45,000 per year, while the council president would receive $1,200 to hit the $60,000 mark.
However, the bill was amended at the Finance Committee after discussion led by John Crescimbeni. The amendment would increase their pay to the state-allowed level of $46,773 for members and $62,364 for the council president.
Serving on council is considered part-time and those figures are half of what others across the state make.
In all, more than $74,000 was needed to hit the state marks.
Council member Danny Becton said he could justify the 2 percent restoration to his constituents. The additional bump, not as much.
“I feel like we’ve added pork to this bill,” he said.
Tommy Hazouri said after five months serving, he couldn’t take either increase.
“We should not come first,” he said. “We should set the example.”
His message received applause from the audience, a demonstration — good or bad — that isn’t allowed.
Part of that crowd included about 40 police officers and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office personnel, led by Fraternal Order of Police President Steve Amos.
Amos said he supported the council members’ salaries being restored, but not before city employees.
“It’s a matter of leadership,” he said. “When times get good … you don’t restore the boss first, you restore the members.”
The Fraternal Order of Police contract expired in October 2014, but officers have continued to work under that deal. Amos said he hoped to sit down with Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration at the end of the month to work on a new contract.
“We’ve got a mayor and a sheriff and they’re touting public safety as a No. 1 priority,” he said. “You can’t have public safety without public safety officers.”
Although police and fire employees have not yet received their restorations, most members have had pay increases through step raises.
There also was opposition from those not filling public safety roles.
Karlyn Carder’s husband, Ben, is an electrician in the city parks department. She said she was angry about the issue because council members serve part-time roles but receive full-time benefits and salaries already above many city employees.
After several council members in succession stood to say they couldn’t support either the restoration or the raise, Finance Chair Bill Gulliford suggested putting the item back in committee for further discussion.
That passed by a 17-0 vote.
Afterward, bill sponsor Matt Schellenberg said he hoped new council members understood the move couldn’t have been done in past years, as Hazouri suggested, because of budget constraints.
“A lot has happened in five years,” he said.
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