07/22/2026
Open Letter to the Citizens of St Johns County
Two candidates for St. Johns County Commission recently spoke about your firefighters' contract and First Responders pay — and we'd like to respond directly, with facts.
At a recent candidate forum, Commissioner Krista Keating-Joseph said firefighters are "arguing over some things that they don't need." Candidate Martin Pyszczymuka, when asked how first responders can afford to live here, pointed to them needing "personal responsibility," noted that "local police officers can work overtime," and rhetorically asked whether workers are "entitled to a house" on a starting salary.
We'd like to clear a few things up.
This is NOT a fight for more money. The firefighters first proposals took zero raises for two years. The "thing we don't need," as Commissioner Keating-Joseph put it, is a schedule closer to the 42-hour work week that Florida now recommends for firefighter health and safety and su***de prevention (state law HB 929, signed 2025). Today your firefighters work 56 hours a week — before overtime. That "thing we don't need" is more time with our families. More time away from the carcinogens we're exposed to. More time away from the horrific things we see.
And the idea that overtime is the answer for underpaid first responders? Last year our firefighters worked more than 85,000 hours of overtime, and it keeps climbing — because there aren't enough people to fully staff the trucks, and because we can't recruit enough paramedics. For us, overtime isn't a path to a house. It's a requirement. It's burning people out, and our citizens suffer alongside our firefighters.
In St. Johns County, a starting firefighter makes $17.65 an hour. Buc-ee's starts a brand-new associate at $20–$25 an hour. Read that again — you can be hired at a gas station and out-earn a St Johns County firefighter trained to run into burning buildings and save your life. And it barely improves with time: our firefighters don't reach $24.69 an hour until 20 years on the job — still no more than what Buc-ee's pays someone on their first day. This isn't a "personal responsibility" problem. It's a pay structure that can't compete with a convenience store — which is exactly why we can't recruit enough paramedics.
The real driver is growth. As the county grows, so do our emergency calls — nearly 65,000 a year, about 177 every single day. You can't sound the alarm about rapid growth while dismissing what it's doing to the workforce carrying its weight.
And the toll is real. More than a third of St. Johns County firefighters are in counseling. Firefighter su***des are rising nationwide, and Florida currently leads the nation in recorded firefighter su***des — which is exactly why the state of Florida acted.
When trucks can't be fully staffed and we can't recruit enough paramedics, your emergency service suffers too. What firefighters are asking for — time to recover, time with family, and enough rest to show up safe when you call 911 — protects the whole community.
Firefighters are your neighbors. People with families who sacrifice for the place they serve.
So here's our open invitation: Commissioner Keating-Joseph and District 2 candidate Martin Pyszczymuka — we'd welcome the chance to sit down with each of you, walk through the full facts and data, and answer any questions you have. First Responders are more than a talking point, and an honest conversation with everything on the table serves everyone. Our door is open.
V/R,
David Stevens
President
St Johns County Professional Firefighters
Website: sjcfirefighters.com
(This video link is from the St Augustine South Improvement Association Candidate Forum, the discussion referenced begins around 35:50)
https://www.youtube.com/live/BlfZXOhUUWk
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