Jacksonville general counsel says pay compression, lost pension and high turnover hinder recruiting and retention

JacksonvilleOffice of General Counsel officials told the True Commission Thursday that persistent pay compression, the end of a defined-benefit pension for new hires and heavy turnover have made it difficult to recruit and retain experienced attorneys.

Michael Fackler, Office of General Counsel, told commissioners the office commissioned a compensation study and "we're approximately 26% out of market" when compared with private law firms the city competes with and "approximately 19% out of market" when broader public-sector comparators are included. He said the difference is driving hiring of new attorneys at salaries that exceed long-tenured staff, creating compression problems.

The wage study and pension change matter because, Fackler said, the cityoffice once relied on a defined-benefit pension as a retention tool. "All the new attorneys are not getting the pension benefits," he said, adding the office now offers a defined-contribution plan. He said the loss of the pension has removed an incentive that helped keep attorneys through multi-decade careers.

Why it matters: The general counsel said the office handles specialized, high-value legal work for the city and for independent authorities such as JEA and needs stable institutional knowledge to deliver timely legal services. Losing experienced attorneys, he warned, risks longer turnaround times and heavier use of outside counsel for specialized matters.

Key details from the presentation and commission discussion: - Compensation gaps: Fackler said the Gallagher survey his office commissioned shows the OGC is roughly 26% below market against selected private firms and about 19% below market against a wider set of public- and private-sector comparators. He said the survey disaggregates pay by attorney rank and staff roles. - Turnover and head count: Fackler reported about 1.7 departures per month since he took office and said the office currently has roughly 45 attorneys authorized and "probably 5 or 6 open positions." He said some positions were frozen in the prior year and money reallocated to retain other staff. - Budget scale: Fackler said the OGC salary budget is about $8 million and estimated that a 10% market correction would cost roughly $800,000 (his back-of-envelope estimate using the $8 million figure). - Pay structure and billing: Commissioners asked whether higher billing rates to authorities such as JEA could cover salary increases. Fackler said the OGC uses client billing primarily to allocate cost across city clients, not to generate discretionary revenue; raising billed rates flows through the citybudgeting process and does not automatically convert to added salary authority for the office. - Classification, promotion and compression: Fackler described six attorney classifications and said long-tenured line attorneys are sometimes capped at lower classifications (for example, an "Attorney 2" label) and therefore paid less than comparable market peers despite years of service. - Recruitment pipeline and internships: Fackler said the office runs a municipal law clinic and recruits from nearby law schools, including Jacksonville University, University of Florida and Florida State University; he said the office typically hires attorneys with some experience rather than first-year lawyers but is trying to expand internship and clinic relationships. - Outside counsel and specialized needs: Fackler said OGC must sometimes hire outside counsel for conflicts or specialties such as bond or maritime law, and that understaffing increases that cost. - Contract management and DocuSign: The general counsel reported ongoing growing pains implementing DocuSign and integrating it with current contract software and said some holdups attributed to the office are actually delays in responses from clients or vendors.

Commissioners pressed for additional data and options, including a full pay-scale review with employee services and the possibility of a multi-year budget discussion with the mayor's office. Fackler said he had a commitment from the mayor's office to discuss the budget but stressed the city faces "huge budget issues." He also said elected officials had been receptive to the conversation.

The presentation included requests for follow-up information: Fackler said he would provide commissioners with the Gallagher compensation report and that he was meeting with employee services about widening pay ranges. He also said OGC is considering how to better match attorney classification to experience and duties.

Ending: Commissioners accepted the briefing and said they wanted the compensation study and additional budget and vacancy data to inform future oversight conversations. The meeting moved on to other business after the presentation.