A.G. Gancarski
I watched a lot of Quincy in my time, but I never saw the budget review episode, so this should be interesting. As with all of these today, we are in the third day of Sam Mousa‘s budget review of Jacksonville City Departments.
9:20: Mousa: “Angela [Moyer] told me that your budget items aren’t necessarily accurate.” An auspicious start.
9:22: A lot of activities handled by the Medical Examiner. Autopsies galore, from home invasions and suspicious deaths.
9:22: Cremation approval is being discussed. Projections are based on the first five months of this calendar year, combined with user fees. “We don’t know how many people are going to die,” says the M.E.
9:23: The Medical Examiner’s projection is going to be used for budget formulation.
9:26: A discussion on outsourcing toxicology. They’ve requested additional money for professional services. Copy center, utilities, building maintenance are the drivers. The budget has been prepared assuming toxicology outsourcing. Disparities in the budget all come back to toxicology outsourcing, which will be a savings driver.
9:30: Shari Shuman thinks outsourcing toxicology will be revenue negative. With benefits, et al, it will cost $298K to outsource this year. The toxicology team is two positions down, and the equipment is broken anyway. “We’ve cut toxicology so much that it’s not sustainable.”
9:33: Mousa wants these budget numbers redone. The toxicology lab has been inoperable half the time since November 2013. Another consequence of limited resources.
9:35: Apparently, Jacksonville’s ME handles services for surrounding counties.
9:36: Mousa: “Let’s not take any action on these pages now.” He wants fresh paper and justification for these decisions. Yet another example of his approach to budgeting differing from what existed previously.
