A.G. Gancarski
It seemed simple enough on the agenda for the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee on Monday morning: a bill to allow a vehicle allowance for Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan. However, the Wu Tang Clan “Can it all really be so simple?” rule definitely was in effect when the bill led to much broader discussion about vehicle allowance policy.
The bill being considered: a substitute “to provide uniformity between the Clerk of Courts, Supervisor of Elections, Property Appraiser, and Tax Collector, which will allow them to have a city-issued vehicle or auto allowance pursuant to the Vehicle Policy.”
Councilman John Crescimbeni, a watchdog of all things financial, wanted to know how many constitutional officers have automobile allowances, before advocating a “more comprehensive look” at the policy.
“I log a lot of miles,” said the At Large Democrat, and “my vehicle allowance is … zippo.”
“I’m kind of inclined to go in the other direction and revoke it all,” Crescimbeni added, saying that he has a “lot of questions.”
Councilman Aaron Bowman followed, saying that a vehicle allowance is “intended to replace what you spent,” saying that there would be “different levels for different people.”
From there, Finance Chairman Bill Gulliford suggested a solution involving self-reporting based on miles used on city business.
Crescimbeni wasn’t done, though.
“I’d like to see the mileage reports for the last four years,” he said, adding that he is “very concerned about how the current system operates.”
Which led Gulliford to suggest a “look at the overall policy of vehicle allowances.”
In two weeks, at the next Finance Committee meeting, expect a more robust revisiting of this discussion, because they asked the mayor’s office to provide documents regarding those issues.
The deferred vehicle allowance bill was one of many measures pushed back for another day; the agenda had more than a dozen bills that were to be deferred or held in abeyance.
As discussed in the Capital Improvement Projects meeting last week, a stormwater bill was pushed back until February or March.
A bill introduced by Councilman Reggie Brown to increase employee salaries by 3 percent for COLA purposes was yet again pushed back because he wasn’t in the meeting to advocate for his bill.
A banking fund elimination bill, introduced in June, was to be held in “abeyance,” as the executive and legislative branches, despite what Councilwoman Lori Boyer called “real issues with the way the fund was utilized” in the past. The goal now: to forge an “entirely new framework” that permits “flexibility.”
Two weeks hence in this committee, there may be some interesting developments regarding fire inspections, also.
Gulliford noted that a “constituent raised significant issues” regarding fire inspection fees, and the next meeting will have a red hot discussion of the fire inspection fee schedule, which will be held under the penumbra of pending litigation regarding fire inspections.
And so committee week begins in Jacksonville’s City Council.
