JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayor Donn Deegan’s administration is pushing back on the suggestion executive staff will be getting a pay bump compared to salaries paid under former Mayor Lenny Curry.
Deegan’s 18-member executive staff will be paid a total of $3.18 million a year collectively.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
That’s compared to the $2.59 million in executive salaries paid out to 18 executive staff members by Curry’s administration in his final year in office.
That’s an increase of roughly 23 percent.
“We’re coming out of this great resignation period where you had employers struggling to retain,” said UNF political science professor Sean Freeder.
Freeder argued the increase isn’t much in the grand scheme of the city’s one-and-a-half billion dollar budget.
He added considering the cost of living increases and inflationary pressures, an increase is to be expected.
“If you want to get high-quality people working within an administration, you’re going to have to compensate them correctly and what it means to be compensated fairly has changed a lot in the past year or two,” said Freeder.
But the Deegan Administration contests the idea the new mayor has raised salaries.
According to Deegan’s communications team, the Curry Administration cut six positions with salaries totaling $760,000 during his last year in office.
Deegan’s team couldn’t provide a breakdown of those specific staff salaries by position Tuesday, but the job titles cut included five administrative aide positions and the public communications officer.
Adding those jobs back in, Curry’s executive staff salaries would have totaled $3.35 million.
That’s roughly $170,000 a year more than Deegan’s payroll.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
“I’ve brought in experienced leaders to create an administration that is more responsive, transparent, and focused on connecting with people. I believe in building a talented team to do this important work, which will deliver more coordinated city services and save taxpayer dollars,” said Mayor Deegan in an emailed statement.
Freeder said it’s likely the lame-duck mayor may have had less of a need for the additional staff.
“You might show at the very end that we even know when to cut positions, but that doesn’t mean that the new administration after an election doesn’t have to come in and hire those positions back, bring those people back in,” said Freeder.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
