Sheriff McNeill spearheads state-funded salary increases for officers

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Governor Ron DeSantis not long ago signed legislation from the last legislative session that significantly increases the base salaries of sheriffs’ deputies and correctional officers in 29 of the state’s fiscally constrained counties.
Among the several counties in the region to benefit from the $15,047,787 put in the state budget as recurring funding, and the annual amount that each will receive, are Dixie, $525,000; Hamilton, $206,500; Lafayette, $296,000; Madison, $487,000; Suwannee, $604,000; Taylor, $289,000; and of course, Jefferson, $261,000.
There is no denying the important parts that the governor and legislators played in the realization of the legislation. Much of the credit for securing the funding, however, must go to Jefferson County Sheriff Mac McNeill, who came up with the proposal and spearheaded it through the legislative process.
Not one to toot his own horn, McNeill is vocal enough when it comes to advocating for the betterment of his officers and department.
As he tells it, it came to his attention earlier in the year that the state was proposing a substantial pay increase for its law enforcement and correctional officers, bringing their annul base salaries to $50,000 and $41,650, respectively. Plus, anyone already making above the new base salaries would receive a 10-percent pay increase.
“Being that our salary was already significantly less than those agencies, I became concerned about how this would negatively affect our agency regarding retention and recruiting,” McNeill says.
Himself a former state law-enforcement officer, McNeill says he fully appreciated and supported the proposed pay raises for the state’s law-enforcement and correctional personnel. But he also realized that he had to find a viable solution if not only his department, but others of the fiscally constrained sheriffs offices across the state were, were to have a measure of parity with the state salaries.
Fortunately, McNeill says, he saw a way to achieve his goal through the many connections that he had forged in his quarter century law-enforcement career.
“Having worked in law enforcement for 25 and having served on the governor’s protection detail for over 13 years, I had the good fortune of working with numerous individuals who are now serving in the state legislature,” McNeill says. “I knew that I needed to start a conversation with them and share my concerns and work towards a solution.”
Which conversation he soon started. Explaining to the legislators that the staffing and funding of sheriffs’ offices were vital to their very existence, as well as being constitutionally required. The funding, moreover, was essential if sheriffs’ offices were to operate jail, function as civil bureaus, issue warrants, mount patrols and exercise countywide jurisdiction, he argued.
The legislators, McNeill says, agreed with his assessment and determined to formulate a plan to ensure that small rural counties with limited tax bases retained their deputies and correctional officers, so as to be able to fulfill their constitutionally required duties.
“After much effort, and with the support and help of the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Sheriffs from the fiscally constrained counties, we were able to get our request totaling $15.7 million in the state’s budget,” McNeill says.
Which legislation the governor approved on June 2, when he signed the state budget into law, with the affected counties scheduled to receive their first distribution of the recurring funds beginning July 1.
McNeill says the $261,000 coming to Jefferson County will be added to the current salaries of deputies and correctional officers.
“The funds will allow us to start our deputies at $45,000 and our correctional officers at $41,500,” McNeill recently told the Jefferson County Commission. “There is also a 10-percent raise included for those law-enforcement officers who are already above the $45,000 starting pay.”
Prior to the new influx of money, the starting salary for deputies and correctional officers in Jefferson County was $35,000 for each.
In a recent conversation with commissioners, McNeill said he was already seeing an improvement in the recruitment and retention of deputies, a situation that he said the increased starting salaries could only enhance.
“This will be a recurring sum that will come to the county hopefully forever and make our deputies’ salaries competitive with what the state is paying and some of these other sheriffs’ offices,” he said. “I think you’re going to see a big change in longevity here and that’s going to do nothing but make our law enforcement better in this area.”
Referring to a deputy whom he had just hired, McNeill expressed optimism for the future.
“Of course, today is by no means the norm,” he said of the just hired deputy, a former county resident who had decided to return to his hometown. “But they are starting to see what is going on in these bigger areas. And while the salaries are better there, the quality of life and the quality of work are better here. So now, when you can make almost the same pay but come here and have a much safer community, a community that respects what you do, we’re going to see lot of former deputies and new people come here. “
Recruitment and retention of qualified officers has been a longstanding problem of not just the JCSO but also of others of the county’s emergency services. Typically, small and lower paying departments serve as training grounds, allowing individuals to gain experience and the necessary skills before opting to move to larger and better-paying organizations.
“We’ve always had people that we had for three years, trained them, put all this time and money into them, got them to where they were pretty good deputies, and then they left us because of the money,” McNeill said. “I think that’s going to change.”
McNeill expressed gratitude to all who had had a hand in the passage of the legislation.
“I would like to thank Senate President Wilton Simpson and Speaker of the House Chris Sprowls for their support in getting this request in the state’s budget,” McNeil said. “I would also like to thank Representative Jason Shoaf, Representative Allison Tant, and Senator Loranne Ausley for their votes supporting this budget initiative. Finally, I would like to thank Governor Ron DeSantis for allowing these funds to remain in the state’s budget and for his undying support of law enforcement and corrections in the state of Florida.”