A.G. Gancarski
Thursday morning’s Jacksonville Finance Committee budget hearing includes a cavalcade of departments. Interesting talkers include the Human Rights Commission, Downtown Vision, the Jacksonville Journey, and the Jacksonville Children’s Commission. The latter department occasioned a robust discussion of salary raises in independent authorities, with accord from senior administration members and council members that the process needed improvement.
However, a highlight of the morning session: Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry addressing the committee.
“No comments on Downtown Vision,” the Mayor quipped.
“When I presented the budget, I said I had a dream that you would accept it as is.”
That didn’t happen. But Curry noted that the smooth process exemplifies One City, One Jacksonville.
Finance Chair Bill Gulliford then commented “that this has been an incredibly good experience” compared to the past.
The drama of twelve months ago is becoming as much of a footnote as former Finance Chair Richard Clark, as the Era of Good Feeling continues.
Beyond Curry’s address, some other departments merited discussion:
One of the more interesting talkers in the early going: the Human Rights Commission. A discussion of housing discrimination by absentee owners against people with service animals, including “emotional support animals,” was something that Councilman Bill Gulliford brought up.
To have an emotional support animal, one requires a doctor’s note and documentation. Councilman Aaron Bowman wondered if PTSD issues from returning veterans created an uptick in these requests.
Another issue they deal with: racial discrimination. Their efforts are hampered, said a representative from the commission, by being underserved.
Another talker: Downtown Vision. Councilman Matt Schellenberg was curious about an $184K allocation for Downtown Ambassadors to Friends of Hemming Park.
Schellenberg honed in on FOHP.
“Of the $600K the city gave them… they got an additional $150K and some donations… a substantial amount of that money must be going to the ambassadors.”
Schellenberg, a critic of FOHP, continued, wanting to know more about the allocation.
Councilman John Crescimbeni was next, wanting more specifics about the employee allocation; the money comes out to 3.5 ambassadors.
Schellenberg wasn’t done.
“I’d like to see your budget. How you did this last year,” the councilman added. He is “looking for a cash flow” on how this works; this will be provided to him, says DVI head Jake Gordon.
Gulliford then circled back to the FOHP contract, wanting “better information” from FOHP.
“I didn’t like the way they categorized things,” Gulliford mentioned, saying that he had unfulfilled informational requests.
Soon after this part of the program was over….
Next: Jacksonville Journey.
Chief of Staff Kerri Stewart presented the budget, and council members had questions.
Tommy Hazouri wanted a “data dashboard” to measure results.
“I think it’s really important to know if anything’s being duplicated,” Hazouri said, wondering if certain programs were “worth it.”
There is, not surprisingly, an annual report. Stewart held that the programs are “meeting their goals.”
“How do we get the community engaged? When we first started, there was a lot of rah rah,” mused Bill Gulliford.
“We see the results of it every day,” Gulliford said.
“We’ve evolved to a point where there’s no conscience with these kids now, and that scares me more than anything,” Gulliford said, repeating concerns previously expressed about the younger generation.
From there, Crescimbeni had questions about the contingency fund. Stewart wanted to hold $2.554M in reserve and then come back to Council with details; Crescimbeni wanted checks and balances.
Then, Hazouri for the second time, pushing the connection between the Journey and the library proposal he advanced earlier this week.
Some specifics were provided on the $3M of “additional program funding” in the budget. Additional money will be allocated to ex-offender training and employment programs (over $600,000 between the two, in total now). As well, $276,576 will go to juvenile crime prevention and intervention, an addition of $50,000.
The Jacksonville Children’s Commission also came up. Pay raises were a talker.
Through an evaluation done by the previous administration, a raise was recommended for JCC head Jon Heymann, who argued that he wouldn’t take a raise unless staff members got a raise.
“There were no red flags,” said Heymann, yet “given what I’ve heard today [about pay raises], my recommendation might be different” despite losing key employees because of the “lack of pay raises for seven or eight years.”
Aaron Bowman then turned his attention to the recurrent issue of reclassifications, which the freshman councilman noticed throughout this budget process.
“I’m seeing an organizational creep throughout the city right now. We can’t have everybody be at the top of the organizational structure,” the councilman mused.
Jacksonville’s Chief Administrative Officer, Sam Mousa, addressed reclassifications. He objects to reclassifications happening within the department without external oversight, and suggested there may be an executive order to this effect.
Summer camps came up, with Councilwoman Lori Boyer contending that that program might be better served until the umbrella of the Jacksonville Journey.
“Not having been here, yet knowing the theme of the Journey,” said CFO Mike Weinstein, camps “would fit under the umbrella of what the Journey is supposed to be all about.”
Pay increases across the board also came up, with Danny Becton, Reggie Gaffney and other council members fretting over inconsistencies in pay raises across the board, “creep in salaries” in independent authorities and budgets like that of the Property Appraiser, and perceived process gaps.
“I hope we can find a solution tomorrow,” Becton said, or next year is going “to be Groundhog Day all over again.”
This led Finance Chair Bill Gulliford to quip that “tomorrow is going to be a fun day.”
“You will be getting legislative opinions saying that you guys are in charge of the entire city,” said Mousa, citing “legislative authority.”
“That’s what Consolidation is all about.”
“We need to reassert the consolidated government,” added Matt Schellenberg, regarding these salary increases.
Gulliford referred to the “dog and pony” show regarding these independent authority budgets, and wanted a look at this issue “in the near future.”
Considerable discussion ensued about the inequity between IA budgets and other city budgets. As a couple of dozen bureaucrats from Public Works waited with laptops and accordion folders for their budget, discussion continued on this front for almost an hour.
