St. Johns County staff seek roughly 71 full-year-equivalent positions for FY27; libraries and fire among top requests

Human Resources and departmental directors presented a package of staffing requests to support new facilities and service growth in St. Johns County, with hiring timelines tied to facility openings.

HR representative said the county received 55.744 positions requested based on timing (those hires would equate to about 71.15 full-year positions) and estimated the budget impact of those requests at roughly $4.9 million. The HR representative explained the county uses percent-of-year accounting for hires (100% if starting Oct. 1, 75% if delayed) to calculate budgeted FTE costs.

Major requests highlighted:
- Libraries: countywide roles for youth services/early literacy, Bookmobile staffing and technical support, and management staff for the new Greenbrier branch; the library requested a total of 13.24 FTE equivalents to staff three new branches and countywide services.
- Fire and EMS: staffing requests tied to new stations (Beach Walk scheduled to open mid‑2028) include about 23 positions timed for January hires and a requested deputy fire chief, captain, lieutenant and logistics roles; HR emphasized a three-person staffing factor per apparatus.
- Utilities and Public Works: a warehouse coordinator, conversions of a 0.5 role to full time for outreach, utility field tech trainees to support meter installs and a staffing plan for the State Road 207 Water Reclamation Facility (anticipated summer 2026).
- Purchasing and Public Affairs: two purchasing positions (compliance/coordinator and procurement coordinator) and a new ADA-focused web accessibility specialist for Public Affairs were presented as general-fund-supported hires.

Funding and timing: HR and staff indicated that most of these positions are proposed within the general fund (property-tax revenues) with some positions funded from enterprise or special revenue funds (e.g., golf course, utilities). Commissioners asked staff to rank and prioritize requests; staff said departments had provided internal prioritizations for some but not all positions.

Next steps: staff will continue fund-health analysis over the next week before recommending which positions to fund and will return to the board with prioritization and timing recommendations.