A.G. Gancarski
Labor negotiations between Jacksonville and the Fraternal Order of the Police are heating up, with Mayor Donna Deegan saying she didn’t expect to hear the union head’s take during a recent interview.
“I have never heard from Randy (Reaves) myself. So I was a little surprised to see that in the media,” Deegan said on WJXT’s “This Week in Jacksonville.”
Reaves told host Kent Justice that locals may not know what’s at stake in the wage talks for the underpaid and staff-deficient police officers, correctional workers, and Judicial officers whose futures are being negotiated currently.
“Any competent person is going to look at this data and it is going to sound alarms,” Reaves said.
“I think if the public knew that their first responders and their law enforcement was a short, 180 short in the jail, over 40 short on the police side, and underpaid by 19%, I think that would shock a lot of people and it also would probably bring a lot of attention to how the city invests money in other things while their first responders are being underpaid.”
Deegan was not willing to offer insight about the city’s position ahead of the April 12 meeting between city negotiators and those from the union.
“I can’t talk about the numbers and what we’re thinking and what will actually come from that. That would be a violation of the negotiating team,” Deegan said, adding that both parties “will come to an agreement and I’m sure that that will happen before too long.”
Though the Mayor says the “negotiating team” would be compromised by disclosure of position, the police union is very clear in what it wants from the city.
Without raises, members of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) would be 34% behind the state average pay by 2027. To that end, JSO seeks a 17% raise for Fiscal Year 2024-25, with 4% hikes in each of the next two years.
FOP seeks a 20% increase in the first year of the contract and a 10% hike in each of the next two years for correctional officers, noting the most recent training class could only get 11 candidates despite having 40 spots to fill.
Regarding judicial officers, the union seeks a 17% raise in the first year of the deal, with 5% hikes the next two years.
Reaves was surprised by the Mayor’s comments, meanwhile, saying her negotiators admitted that the FOP’s “data on comparable agencies was valid and the retainment and retention numbers were concerning.”
17 comments
the Truth
April 8, 2024 at 2:22 pm
Deegan is dumb as a rock, one term mayor
Impeach Biden
April 8, 2024 at 3:19 pm
Not surprised at all. She must be AOC and The Squad smart.
Carol
April 9, 2024 at 9:19 am
Oh she she is
MH/Duuuval
April 8, 2024 at 3:38 pm
Lenny Curry got everything he requested for the police, and more, during his eight years in office. So, these alleged deficits and problems arose in the first year of Deegan’s mayoralty?
MH/Duuuval
April 8, 2024 at 3:39 pm
And did Deegan take away pension rights for new hires?
Jess Maya Pinion
April 8, 2024 at 3:38 pm
I think most of the cops in the state are being paid 34% too much. What is it that they tell teachers? You should be doing it for the love of the job and not the pay, right? JSO’s budget is half a billion dollars. They need to figure out how to allocate that to officer pay and training more efficiently. And while they’re add it, get rid of the p*do cops that seem to be filling the ranks. Garriga and Carmona are probably the tip of the iceberg.
MH/Duuuval
April 8, 2024 at 3:41 pm
Waters has asked for and received total control of his budget — theoretically he could pay more.
the Truth
April 8, 2024 at 8:47 pm
MH/DUUUVAL, you hate the police,,, you hate law and order
MH/Duuuval
April 9, 2024 at 10:16 am
Unfortunately, we need police because there are dangerous folks out there who may threaten our lives or property.
My main complaint — beyond the examples of police bad behavior we read or hear about — is some police have been coopted by right-wing politicians. The effect of this is to politicize law enrichment, which is a HUGE mistake for police and for citizens because it sets up two tiers of justice, one for cops and one for taxpayers.
There’s no logical reason to expect all police officers to be angels and history shows they aren’t. The bad apples need to be culled and as it stands, the FOP and right-wing politicians keep this from occurring.
Law enforcement should be non-partisan, but the JSO/FOP are deeply involved in local politics. And, lately, this has hurt the police rank and file as their so-called friends took away police pensions.
The FOP and the JSO leadership will do just fine, of course. But, the men and women on the street — not so much.
Carol
April 9, 2024 at 9:18 am
Donna is a disaster for Jacksonville as any democrat is anywhere. Every dump and disaster in America is run by democrats. WHEN WILL PEOPLE LEARN? The horrible condition America is in is because of democrats. They could care less about people only pandering or allowing God knows who into the country for votes , power and money. This is not rocket science.
MH/Duuuval
April 9, 2024 at 10:18 am
Please, stay far, far, far away from rockets.
Rick Whitaker
April 9, 2024 at 3:25 pm
CAROL, YOU ARE A NUT
Rick Whitaker
April 9, 2024 at 4:28 pm
carol, could you be any more wrong, no you couldn’t. you need to take them maga lies and find an idiot that would believe it and then tell them the lies. us regular people are not maga cultist like you seem to be.
the Truth
April 9, 2024 at 8:13 pm
I agree with Carol, Democrats are for the weird, the lbgtqrst community, the freaks, the socialist liberals,,, they want illegals to come to America, and then commit murders..
the Truth
April 9, 2024 at 10:34 pm
Carol is right. Demoncrats are nuts
Rick Whitaker
April 13, 2024 at 8:54 pm
truth, yeah……………………..right.
IvanNotSoTerrible
April 17, 2024 at 6:19 pm
If I was a JSO cop I would be nervous. Deegan wants their pension money for the stadium Jax can not afford. Jax is already several billion in debt. Somehow she over estimated next years property tax income by 100 million dollars. Failed to properly investigate the RISE fire. I do not think being a democrat has much to do with it. Being Mayor is just not in Deegan’s wheelhouse, aka dumb!
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