Bonilla proposes raises for Orange commissioners
Declaring Orange County commissioners as underpaid compared to counterparts in smaller counties, Emily Bonilla proposed Thursday the board raise their yearly salaries of $88,000 to six figures “for the important work and sacrifices to our lives we make daily to serve the public.”
“Some of the commissioners work 60 to 80-hour weeks... have given up their careers and sacrifice time with their children,” said Bonilla, in her second term representing District 5, which includes Winter Park and Bithlo, an impoverished community in east Orange. “This is what some of the constituents expect from us — to always be available to them.”
A mother of two sons and formerly a career advisor at Full Sail University, she proposed the issue in a memo to the board that she read near the end of a two-day budget workshop at which commissioners reviewed spending requests for other county operations.
Bonilla, who has led the effort to put a rent-control referendum on the November ballot and called out some property management companies in metro Orlando for “profiteering” as rents soar, also asked for more office staff to assist each commissioner.
She said Orange commissioners should be paid $106,000 a year, according to a population-based, state compensation formula rather than an annual salary of $87,652, derived from an adjustment methodology created in a pay ordinance, last updated in 1996.
Commissioners in Osceola ($91,103) and Seminole ($91,989) are paid more though their counties are less populous.
In the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, commissioners’ pay is budgeted to be $91,158, a 4% bump, the same increase as other non-union county employees. The state formula would give each commissioner a raise of $18,348 over their current salaries, about a 21% increase.
Bonilla said the higher raise “definitely will not break the bank.”
But Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, hoping to convince voters in November to approve a 1% salestax increase to fund transportation needs, opposed the idea for higher commissioner pay.
“I just think... the optics and the timing is all wrong,” he said.
The mayor’s annual salary, set by the same amended charter provision, will increase Oct. 1 from $175,827 to $182,860.
Although the salary increase lacked a commission consensus to move forward, the proposal could be revisited by the board before the budget cycle ends in September. Raising commissioner pay — or changing the adjustment methodology — would require a public hearing.
Commissioner Victoria Siplin, whose eight-year board tenure ends in December, also opposed the higher pay raise.
“I’m fine with my salary. Like I said before, I signed up for this. It wasn’t about the money,” said Siplin, whose district includes Tangelo Park and much of Pine Hills. “We all understand. We all make sacrifices. If we wanted to make a whole lot of money, we wouldn’t be here.”
Other commissioners were conflicted. Some said the rigors of the job call for higher pay.
“There’s a lot of needs out there and we are here working 24/7,” said District 4 Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero, adding she can no longer work full-time as a mental health therapist. “I’m not here for the money . ... But, you know, it doesn’t hurt to have an increase.”
Her sprawling district includes the Lake Nona community, Innovation Way and borders both Osceola and Brevard counties.
District 3 Commissioner Mayra Uribe, who represents an area that includes Belle Isle, Edgewood and stretches from Orlando Executive Airport to Orlando International Airport, described herself as “a little torn” on Bonilla’s proposal for bigger board pay raises.
“I remember when I started here, they said the job is as you see fit... and what I see fit is a lot,” she said.
“If I was not married, I would not be able to survive being a county commissioner financially,” said Uribe, a mother of two, a former aide to former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and formerly the co-host of a sports-talk radio program with her husband, Kevin Sutton.
She said it was “disheartening” that commissioners in counties with a third of Orange’s 1.4 million residents get paid more.
District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson, a lawyer in her first term representing Horizon West, Winter Garden and other parts of west Orange County, said she was grateful for the opportunity to serve despite the difficulties of balancing public service and her career.
She said conflicts can arise when private work obligations cross paths with public service.
“I think those things sometimes become a bigger issue when people can’t focus on the singular job of serving,” Wilson said.
Commissioner Christine Moore, who represents District 2, which includes Apopka, Ocoee and northwest Orange, was not present for the afternoon discussion. She and Gomez Cordero are seeking reelection and have opponents in the August primary.
In her board presentation, Bonilla acknowledged talk of a pay increase was controversial and an issue that a political opponent may wield against an incumbent. But she urged colleagues not to let that concern “prevent us and future commissioners from being fairly compensated...”
In her memo, Bonilla called for county staff to research Florida commission salaries to determine “an amount that is fair and on par with other counties.”
She argued higher pay also might draw a wider pool of candidates.
“Financially independent people or those who have a high-paying career that allows them to work for the government to benefit their industry shouldn’t be the only people who are able to run for office,” Bonilla wrote. “Having a salary that compensates fairly for the commitment will allow more people with less financial means than the ones just mentioned to run for office.”