The Anastasia Mosquito Control District is responsible for keeping the population of the blood-sucking pests down in St. Johns County. | Anastasia Mosquito Control District
Published on November 26, 2024 at 3:31 pm
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A board of elected officials in St. Johns County may have violated the law by giving themselves holiday bonuses for at least six years, including $1,000 the past two years.
The five-member board of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District approved the bonuses Nov. 21 for themselves and the agency’s 44 employees.
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The holiday bonus is on top of the $4,800 annual salary board members take home — the maximum the state allows for mosquito control district board members.
One board member said the bonuses are necessary because, unlike the district’s employees, elected board members don’t receive regular raises.
“It’s simply not fair,” Commissioner Catherine Brandhorst said during the meeting last week. “Employees receive a raise every year. They receive a cost-of-living adjustment, and we receive nothing.”
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But Florida law is fairly explicit on the issue.
Florida statute states that mosquito control board members cannot supplement their maximum $4,800 salaries with anything other than travel fees for official business.
Florida’s law also states that elected officials are barred from voting on any measure that would provide a direct monetary benefit to that official.
The Mosquito Control District is a special taxing district separate from St. Johns County’s government. The district handles mosquito control through spraying insecticide, offers education on mosquitoes — like the disease vector museum the district operates — and conducts research on effective insect-killing. It’s all overseen by a five-member board of elected commissioners.
At least one of the commissioners is having second thoughts about the bonuses.
Commissioner Martha Gleason was absent from the meeting and questioned the vote after she said a constituent alerted her that the bonuses may be against the law.
“I want to assure you that I take this matter seriously and will be proposing a motion to revoke the Board bonuses at the upcoming December meeting,” Gleason posted on Facebook. “It is essential to uphold transparency and accountability in our actions as public servants.”
Gleason, who was elected to the board in 2022, told Jacksonville Today she wasn’t completely on board with the measure last year — although she voted to approve those $1,000 holiday bonuses for board members and staff. She said her main focus last year was on the staff.
But after hearing this year that the bonuses could be against the law, Gleason reached out to the board’s recently appointed attorney, Amy Myers.
Myers confirmed to Gleason this week that there is no provision in the district’s charter that “authorizes this additional compensation for Commissioners.”
“If there is authority elsewhere in the statutes, I am similarly unaware of it,” Myers continued.
Ben Wilcox, director of the government watchdog group Integrity Florida, isn’t aware of anything either. But, he said the state’s mechanism for investigating a potential violation like this relies on a constituent filing an ethics violation.
“I don’t know if the Florida Commission on Ethics would find that the complaint had legal sufficiency or not,” Wilcox told Jacksonville Today, “but it would still be worth somebody trying to file an ethics complaint.”
Larger bonuses proposed
The bonuses were nearly higher before the board settled on the $1,000 amount.
Commissioner Brandhorst recommended changing the bonuses to be based on merit: $500 for every year served on the board.
Brandhorst’s 14-year term on the board is coming to an end now that T.J. Mazzotta has been elected to her seat. Having served since 2010, Brandhorst would have taken home a $7,000 bonus under the change she proposed.
Her proposal didn’t go anywhere. Commissioner Trish Becker called it “wasteful.”
Jacksonville Today was unable to reach Brandhorst for comment this week.
It was not the first time Brandhorst has met with friction from fellow commissioners. Earlier this year, the board sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis complaining about Brandhorst’s repeated unannounced absences and tardiness at the monthly board meetings.
The board holds public meetings once per month at the district’s headquarters at 120 EOC Drive near St. Augustine.
The topic of bonuses will be addressed at the next board meeting, at 5 p.m. Dec. 12.
