Jacksonville police, fire unions want four more years of Lenny Curry

The symbiotic relationship between Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and the city’s public safety unions was memorialized anew Tuesday, with the police and fire unions both endorsing Curry’s re-election.

The Fraternal Order of Police endorsement lauded Curry for “budgets that give us the tools we need to do our jobs” and “the resources we need to take care of our families.

The Jacksonville Association of Fire Fighters likewise lauded Curry for “realistic public safety budget requests.”

For Curry, these were priority endorsements, earned by working out a solution to the city’s unfunded pension liability, by closing defined benefit plans to new hires in exchange for well-funded defined benefit plans and raises for public safety employees totalling 20 percent over three fiscal years.

Curry has devoted budgetary resources to police and fire, including in the most recent proposed budget.

All told, $47 million in new money will be split between the departments.