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High Springs reviews police budget, flags pay and staffing as top challenges
Summary
At a June 12 budget workshop, Police Chief Antoine Sheppard outlined the police department's operating budget, staffing levels, response-time targets and training investments, emphasizing pay competitiveness as the primary retention issue.
High Springs Police Chief Antoine Sheppard told the City Commission at its June 12 budget workshop that the police department represents "a significant portion of your budget" and described response-time goals, personnel counts and equipment costs as central budget drivers.
Sheppard said the department averages about 6 to 10 minutes to respond to non-priority calls and about 2 to 4 minutes for priority calls. He told commissioners the department is a 24/7 operation, with salaries comprising the largest share of the department's operating costs.
The chief said the department has about 19 full-time officers, including himself, and keeps roughly four to five reserve officers who volunteer regularly but may be paid for events or paid details. He described a mix of leased and owned patrol vehicles and said the department maintains "over 30 vehicles."
Sheppard described several budget lines and programs: overtime (including billable overtime for off-duty details), training and travel, professional services, an outsourced dispatch contract, and technology costs such as servers and body-worn cameras. He said the department has used state grants to purchase body armor, noting a grant of about $25,000 that covered vests priced at about $1,300 each.
On workforce development, Sheppard said about half of his officers hold college degrees and that the department offers education reimbursement based on grades; he described the reimbursement as scaled by grade but did not provide the exact schedule. He said the agency encourages certifications (for example, K-9, traffic homicide investigator, instructor) and described an internal promotion and assignment process tied to training and experience.
Commissioners asked about contract timing and pay. City staff confirmed the police union contract is a three-year agreement with an annual opener; negotiations were under way. Sheppard told the commission the department must be competitive with surrounding jurisdictions to retain officers, citing regional pay differences as the principal reason officers leave.
Discussion points: commissioners questioned projected next-year costs, the mix of leased versus owned vehicles, reserve-officer practices, and School Resource Officer coverage after a recent departure. Sheppard said the SRO vacancy is being filled internally and that the department had put out an internal posting.
No formal budget vote or action on the police budget was taken at the workshop. The presentation was informational and intended to help commissioners read and understand police budget line items ahead of the 2026 budget process.
Looking ahead, Sheppard told the commission that increasing starting pay and step-plan adjustments would be the department's main budget priorities to remain competitive in recruitment and retention.
