JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The City Council is taking a stand on who works for the city of Jacksonville.
Starting July 1, those who want to work for the city must live in Duval County. The City Council approved the new legislation Tuesday night with a 12-7 vote.
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"We don't have a talent deficit. We have an opportunity deficit," Mayor Alvin Brown said.
He said that opportunity deficit is city jobs, with nearly 2,000 out-of-towners being paid by Jacksonville for doing work in the River City.
The change will only apply to new employees.
"They have an opportunity to locate to Jacksonville in six months, as I understand it," Brown said. "The key is you build that pipeline of good people."
Firefighters and other local unions that represent city employees say they were surprised the legislation passed.
Randy Wyse, the head of the fire union, said the change could hurt the city in the long run.
"Obviously, it's going to limit your applicant pool in the future of people willing to live inside Duval County," Wyse said in a phone interview. "There is a lot of factors with schools, the price of housing and things like that."
Many city employees who choose to live out of town cite Duval County's failing schools as their No. 1 reason for doing so. But the man who drafted the bill, City Councilman Reggie Brown, says those people have to take pride in Jacksonville, pay taxes in Jacksonville with those city dollars and help build the city's schools back up.
"I really hope they would see the value of purchasing property in Duval County," Reggie Brown said.
Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford said he thinks the change is a good idea and understands the reasoning behind it, even though he said many of his officers live outside the county.
City Hall is still working out the details on the change.
"We have to invest where we live, making the place where you live the best place in the world to live in at that particular time," Reggie Brown said.