PHOTO VIA ORANGE COUNTY MAYOR JERRY L. DEMINGS FACEBOOK PAGE
Orange County commissioners and outgoing Mayor Jerry Demings received a 4 percent pay raise effective October 1, part of the county’s $9 billion budget for the new fiscal year.
Commissioners now earn $135,262 annually, a raise of about $5,211, while Demings’ salary rose to roughly $271,658, an increase of about $10,500. County employees received the same 4 percent increase.
The increase comes as the county faces a potential $165 million to $275 million loss in property tax revenue if a statewide homestead exemption amendment passes in November, a prospect that has pushed other Central Florida governments toward hiring freezes and budget caution in recent months.
This year’s raise follows a more significant overhaul in 2023, when commissioners voted 4-2 to raise their own pay by nearly 25 percent and change the formula governing future increases, tying them to raises given to non-union county employees rather than a fixed percentage. Commissioners Nicole Wilson and Emily Bonilla voted against the measure, and Demings was absent. County staff justified the 2023 raise at the time by noting Orange County, Florida’s fifth-largest county by population, paid its commissioners less than counterparts in Broward, Palm Beach, and Hillsborough counties.
