Tallahassee Charter Review Committee endorses embattled pay increase for commissioners

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Tallahassee Charter Review Committee produced its final report of recommendations for changes to the city’s charter.

Recommendations included a pay increase for city commissioners and no change to the size of the five-member governing body.

The review committee consists of 10 appointed members who were tasked with holding public meetings to collect input on various reforms to the city’s charter. The group ultimately held seven total meetings throughout the first three months of 2024.

City commissioners currently earn just over $48,000 annually, while the mayor, John Dailey, makes double the commissioner salary, totaling over $96,000.

“The committee recommended that members of the City Commission receive a pay increase,” the report read.

The committee determined the city charter should be changed so that it provides the opportunity for the commission to, at any point, establish a compensation committee, tasked with providing a salary increase recommendation for the governing body.

The committee found that other Florida cities similar in population size to Tallahassee paid their commissioners significantly more. Examples included Fort Lauderdale, where commissioners make $88,000 per year; and Cape Coral, where commissioners earn a $40,000 stipend in addition to their $41,000 salary.

Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, a progressive who ran for chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, expressed opposition to the push for increased commissioner salaries.

“I do not support changing the charter so City Commissioners can set their own pay,” Matlow said on social media.

He argued that he would not vote for an increase until the city’s firefighters are “given a fair contract.”

Firefighter unions have been in ongoing contract negotiations with the city as concerns of Tallahassee having one of the lowest firefighter salaries in the state was brought to the commission’s attention.

“I want to thank the Charter Review Commission for their diligent efforts, but I can’t in good conscience put personal greed ahead of firefighters’ needs,” Matlow added. “I won’t discuss Commission pay until our duty is fulfilled and both Firefighter contracts are signed, sealed and delivered.”

The review committee declined to consider another hot topic amongst Tallahassee residents, relating to the fact that the mayor and commissioners are all elected at-large. Some individuals and groups have encouraged the idea of creating official districts for commissioners in order to have better regional representation throughout the city.

Matlow is supporting Commissioner Jacqueline Porter in her 2024 re-election efforts to the commission, as well as Dorothy Inman-Johnson, who is running against current commissioner, Curtis Richardson.

Dailey is supporting Richardson in his re-election and has also endorsed Rudy Ferguson, one of Porter’s challengers.