A.G. Gancarski
On Thursday, the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee took a romp through the Public Works budget as part of its larger budget review. As the discussion proceeded from JEA and vehicle replacement to stormwater and landfill issues, tensions reared their head. Before that, many other subjects were discussed.
Fun Fact: Operating expenses are up $3,7M, largely attributable to a $2.3M uptick in JEA rates for street lights, and a $446,005 increase in mowing related costs.
The biggest divisional expense increases: Solid Waste Sanitation and Traffic Engineering, up 28% and 22% respectively. The latter is attributable to the street lights issue. The former, largely attributed to a $150,000 outlay for the city’s snipe sign and tire buyback event.
Council Auditor Kirk Sherman recommended that electricity be cut by $1.1M, taking advantage of the JEA Board approved fuel credit that will occur early in FY 15-16. This ended up being a significant talker.
CAO Sam Mousa then addressed street lights. He mentioned an inventory of street lights that weren’t being charged for by JEA, and that Jacksonville had been getting a 20% discount on street lights dating back to a 1996 move to lock in major users to stave off deregulation. The rate had been locked in for close to two decades, Mousa said.
Mousa then went on to discuss a term in the agreement that seemed to say there needed to be a 60 month notice of change of terms, but in reality was a notice of agreement termination. JEA did a “cost evaluation” and “raised the tariff to recoup costs.”
“Even with the raised tariff… there’s some confusion on our part… whether the tariff is accurate.”
Councilman John Crescimbeni went on to question the street light count itself. Mousa mentioned that there might be a “2% margin of error” in there, urging the “benefit of the doubt” on their count.
“We’re just concerned that this hit came up quickly,” Mousa continued. “We’re trying to get a handle on why” the price increase is happening, and noted that the increased JEA General Fund contribution is offset by the street light charge increase.
“We’re the city. We’re the owner. We should get a little extra consideration,” said Bill Gulliford, who says that future meetings of the JEA Agreement board will get a bit more “intense” and “electrifying.”
To quote Jane’s Addiction, “Nothing’s Shocking.”
— Another big talker: delays in vehicle replacement, which led Lori Boyer to observe that vehicle replacement should happen on a more robust schedule to avoid service delays.
Sam Mousa and Bill Gulliford agreed that vehicle replacement should be determined by hours used.
— Still another hot topic: the removal of landscaping and tree planting projects on 8th Street, as well as downtown pocket park and median renovation and library landscape renovation, which was a proposed recommendation by the Council Auditor, because, in the words of Mousa, they are more hardscaping than tree planting projects.
“The trees in this project are insignificant” compared to the overall cost of the projects, Mousa added.
There apparently is $7,000,000 “languishing” in the fund, according to Gulliford, which he finds concerning.
Crescimbeni urged district councilmen to propose legislation to ensure these funds are used to actually plant trees, rather than just sit in an account.
— The Trail Ridge Landfill was also discussed. It is approaching capacity issues, and, as Robinson said, one tropical storm would exhaust capacity. A new cell is slated to be created by 2018, which would have a 25-30 year addition of landfill capacity.
“In the event of a tropical storm, yard waste gets commingled with other elements” during the disposal process.
Commingling is a “big issue.”
— Boyer mentioned then that the Public Works budget doesn’t have sufficient capacity for the aforementioned landfill expansion, given extant budget pressures. To which Robinson replied that problem could be remedied via an increase of the solid waste fee in years forward.
Mousa then chimed in. “The solid waste fee is stressed. The enterprise fund is stressed.” And the Curry Administration is “well aware” of these pressures.
“Everybody dumped their problems on it, so we’re aware of all of them. We just haven’t had a chance to fix them yet.”
Council Auditor Kirk Sherman echoed Mousa’s contention that the fund is stressed.
— Other funding stresses are revealed in the stormwater fund. The subfund operates from a negative cash position for most of the calendar years, as it is funded by billing property owners in arrears.
Lori Boyer moved to ensure that funding is secured for stormwater projects. The transfer from fund balance would proceed in the short term, and in the long term Council would work with the administration to secure dedicated funding.
Mousa observed that “there is a gameplan that’s going to be finalized with Council auditors regarding a new development fee… that will result” in a significant infusion of dollars that would remedy this issue.
A proposed transfer of funding from the Newtown Drainage project irked Councilman Garrett Dennis, who noted that these issues had been neglected for “years and years and years and years.”
Mousa said that “you have a commitment from this administration” to fund the project as soon as logistics are laid down.
“You know there are constraints with that project. We’re not sure we can find land for funds,” Mousa said, adding that so much is “in flux” that funds should be transferred to Drainage System Rehabilitation.
“I think you’re aware with the constraints on this project,” Mousa continued, adding that they needed to get into the study, handle permitting, and in the meantime, put some of the $4.5M in the fund currently to work.
“We need to put everything on the table,” Dennis said, talking about other neglected drainage projects.
“We don’t prioritize based on area. We prioritize based on what’s ready to be constructed,” Mousa continued, regarding right of ways being obtained and other necessary prerequisites.
“These two projects are ready. Unfortunately, yours isn’t ready. And it may be some time until it is ready,” Mousa added.
“The veterans on the council know… that the projects on stormwater are funded in phases,” Mousa continued. “New Town is no different from any other project” in that regard.
