City auditor and clerk awarded 15% base pay increase

With double the responsibilities or more of her department head and/or constitutional officer colleagues from Clearwater to Naples, it might stand to reason that the Sarasota City Auditor and Clerk Shayla Griggs would earn twice the salary.

Or, at the very least, should be slotted in a higher pay scale than she was since being promoted to the position in 2019. 

During its March 23 meeting, those were the sentiments voiced when the Sarasota City Commission unanimously agreed to increase Griggs’ current base salary by 15%, from $196,247 per year to $225,684.

A comparison of similar positions in regional jurisdictions doesn’t provide a perfectly clear contrast as duties vary from one to another. Griggs does rank at the top of the comparison pay scale, but she also carries more responsibilities.

For one, she is the only city auditor and clerk from Clearwater to Naples, and she is the only one who checks the boxes for responsibilities in eight areas. They include:

• Custodian of official records.
• Preparation of agendas, minutes and notices.
• Fulfillment of public records requests.
• Supervision of pension department.
• Public broadcasting.
• Election official.
• Internal auditing.
• Administering the oath.

Not on the list of official duties is keeping the city commissioners on task and in order during meetings, occasionally reminding her panel of five bosses of parliamentary procedures and refocusing sometimes meandering motions back to the point. Most recently, the commission tasked her and City Attorney Joe Polzak with shepherding the city manager search process in partnership with executive recruitment firm Sumter Local Government Consulting.

So what the other departments in the other cities do, there’s an average of about four duties," said Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich. "She does eight of them, and the average pay for four is 150 (thousand dollars). So if you're going to double it, that's 300 (thousand). I’d say we're getting a really good deal. 

“Aside from that, the professionalism that's put into this job and into the department is invaluable.”

In addition to her regularly assigned duties, Griggs’ department has also created and executed the now-regularly occurring Shred Stock events at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall parking lot, most recently adding disposal of electronic devices to that of paper documents.

“She's running a department that does its job efficiently, effectively and happily, but she has also introduced new programs and new efficiencies,” said Mayor Debbie Trice. “This is not your average run-of-the-mill clerk who just does the job. She goes above and beyond and makes us better, so I think this is really well deserved.”

By comparison to other top city executives, current and immediately prior interim city managers Jennifer Jorgensen and Dave Bullock were paid based on an annual salary of $228,000, Doug Jeffcoat at $205,000 before them and Marlon Brown, who retired as city manager in 2024, earned $235,000. Director of Planning Steven Cover earns $201,000 per year and Van Wezel Executive Director Mary Bensel earns $204,039.