JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff’s post has been vacant for more than a year, according to city attorneys. So what does that mean for the money he’s made and the pension he collects?
Here’s what we know:
Sheriff Williams currently receives a city pension for his 23 years of service with JSO, a job he quit to run for sheriff.
His city pension, paid out through the Police and Fire Pension Fund, totals about $90,000 a year.
On top of that he collects a roughly $180,000 annual salary.
Pension fund officials tell us his city pension will remain unaffected since it predates questions about his residency.
His salary since March 2021, when he moved to Nassau County, could be the subject of a challenge, experts say, since he wasn’t actually sheriff during that period. But city attorneys determined in their draft opinion that he deserves the salary since he was acting as the “de facto” sheriff.
Experts tell First Coast News that it would be difficult to claw back his salary since he was doing the job, regardless of where he lived.
As for whatever pension he might receive as sheriff, city pension officials say that would come from the state retirement system. Officials there have not responded to questions about the sheriff’s pension.