The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners and the Escambia County Sheriff's Office have entered into an Interlocal Agreement resolving the sheriff's budget appeal for fiscal year 2017-18. The agreement was reached after a mediation session held on Saturday, April 21 and was approved by a unanimous vote during a special public board meeting held Thursday, April 26.
Approval of the mediation agreement is the first step toward implementation of the new budget allocations for the sheriff as reflected in the Interlocal Agreement which are summarized as follows:
BCC Payments
- A payment of $1 million commencing May 2018.
- In fiscal year 2018-19 (Oct. 1, 2018 - Sept. 30, 2019), the sheriff's office will be paid $2.5 million. This payment will be in addition to the $1 million addition to the sheriff's operational budget adopted by the BCC.
- In fiscal year 2019-20 (Oct. 1, 2019 - Sept. 30, 2020), the sheriff's office will be paid $2.6 million.
- In fiscal year 2020-21 (Oct. 1, 2020 - Sept. 30, 2021), the sheriff's office will be paid $2.9 million.
Sheriff's Mediated Reserves
Both parties will contribute to a reserve fund to pay for unbudgeted increases in personnel costs in the following circumstances:
The Sheriff's Mediated Reserve may not be utilized in fiscal year 2018 or fiscal year 2019. For fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the reserve may be utilized as follows:
- The commission increases the budgeted allocation for health, life, dental and vision for each county employee by the board above $10,000.
- There is a net increase in the retirement rate contribution to be paid by the sheriff into the Florida Retirement System.
- There is an increase in the sheriff’s worker’s compensation premium either in fiscal year 2020 or fiscal year 2021 limited to 50 percent of the net increase and shall be limited to no more than $200,000 annually.
Contributions will be:
The sheriff will return a minimum of the following to the board:
- $500,000 from their fiscal year 2018 budget
- $250,000 from their fiscal year 2019 budget
- $250,000 from their fiscal year 2020 budget
The commission will set aside the following amounts as a last line reserves:
- $750,000 in fiscal year 2020
- $750,000 in fiscal year 2021
Other Terms
- The sheriff will not appeal his budget to the governor for pay or benefits during the term of this agreement.
- The sheriff may request additional personnel positions for the fiscal year 2020
and/or fiscal year 2021, if in the sheriff’s judgement unforeseen or extraordinary
circumstances require additional personnel.
- The sheriff may request additional operational or capital funding.
- The sheriff shall withdraw his budget appeal now pending before the Administration Commission.
- Neither the LETF nor the monies for outside agencies or the
commissioners' discretionary funds are required as funding sources for
this agreement.
