Jacksonville Council budget review: Public Service Grants

bags-of-money budget copy

The Thursday afternoon Jacksonville City Council Budget Review began, as the council auditor presentation continued with a lively discussion of public service grants. The morning session is here.

1:20: Councilman Tommy Hazouri is annoyed by a lack of clarity on these from Rashanda Jackson, chairwoman of the Public Service Grant Council. John Crescimbeni goes on to outline a “couple of things wrong” with the process, such as the Cultural Council getting $2.8 million, and social services getting just $2 million: “not enough dollars.” The scoring of grant applications, also, “is all over the place” and subjective. This is a rollicking start. “There’s something wrong with the process.”

1:33: Crescimbeni: “I’m almost to the point where I want to throw everything on this sheet out the window” and restart the process. “The arts community does not go hungry.”

1:34: Crescimbeni then says , “The smart thing to do would be to plug in a number” and refine the process.

1:37: Bill Gulliford: “I’m listening to a broken system.”

1:39: Lori Boyer throwing shade at the subjective scoring process of the grant applications now. Two issues: fixing the system, and figuring out what to do this year.

1:41: Reggie Gaffney joins the consensus of saying that there needs to be a committee.

1:46: Gulliford reminds everyone that the point of this budget process is the budget, not creating a more holistic fix.

1:46: Ali Korman Shelton (representing the Lenny Curry administration) says that the understaffed Public Service Grants committee is considered an “emergency” by the administration.

1:49: As Crescimbeni makes the case for going back to the drawing board, Shelton has a quiet conversation on the side.

1:50: The solution is a subcommittee. The solution is always a subcommittee. Looks like Vice Chair Anna Brosche will head it up, and decision on public service grants will be deferred until the last budget day.

1:57: Brosche is unclear as to what the subcommittee will actually do. Gulliford: Take a holistic look, come back with recommendations.

1:59: Jackson: “There have been some bad apples” on the board. Encouraging. A lot of turnover between mayoral administrations. There’s a story there.

2:00: Ernest Isaac is available for a board spot. Last hurrah?

2:01: Crescimbeni says there needs to be a better selection process for this board. As he says, “I’m not sure grant writing is the only qualification that should be looked at,” Shelton shakes her head.

2:02: Crescimbeni wants to offer a motion to move forward with current allocation, and “maybe come back and re-examine” with subcommittee input.

2:08: That subcommittee should be interesting.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski



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