A.G. Gancarski
At a Jacksonville City Council meeting on Tuesday night where most of the drama was in the public comments, the most interesting exchanges, both during the agenda meeting and the meeting itself, revolved around Councilman John Crescimbeni‘s introduction of ultimately unsuccessful legislation to force a review of the Property Appraiser budget and appeal $182K in raises for Property Appraiser employees.
Property Appraiser Jerry Holland, known for his probity, was very candid about his perception of the motivation for the bill.
“It just gets to the point if you have a council member who doesn’t like you for personal reasons,” Holland said, referring to Councilman John Crescimbeni, likening the process to a squabble on the playground.
“There’s a certain power he has,” Holland said, referring to the use of the “bully pulpit” by Crescimbeni, whom Holland contended had a personal issue with him dating back to when Holland was Supervisor of Elections and opted not to hire the woman who became Crescimbeni’s wife.
After the meeting, I caught up with Crescimbeni, who was not thrilled by the article.
“Why did I sponsor this legislation last year?”
Crescimbeni presented a copy of Resolution 2014-640, a measure which would have reduced the Property Appraiser’s budget in the previous year, that ultimately was withdrawn.
Regarding Holland’s claims, Crescimbeni was dismissive.
“He recruited her,” the councilman said regarding Holland. “I was totally opposed,” he added, calling the situation a “severe conflict.”
She went on, Councilman Crescimbeni said, to get a “much better” opportunity.
Crescimbeni’s claim is that Holland called her, recruited her, and had lunch. (For what it’s worth, Holland contended after the agenda meeting that there was some objection in the Supervisor of Elections office from parties besides him to hiring her. The feeling, as he expressed it, was that the councilman may take too much of a personal interest in the business of the office).
Rejecting the implication that the personal was political in this case, Crescimbeni reiterated his opposition to pay raises for Property Appraiser employees. He pointed out that his opposition, this year and the previous year when Jim Overton served in the position, was consistent. One issue he has with the process: the Property Appraiser budget is set by the State of Florida on June 1, which clearly doesn’t jibe with Jacksonville’s budget process.
