Jax stormwater budget in red for FY15: does it matter?

Jacksonville’s stormwater budget was in the red in the fourth quarter in FY 2015, according to a City of Jacksonville document.

For the year, according to the report, total expenditures looked to be $32.946 million, with revenues at $30.899 million, a shortfall of just over $2 million.

And it looked like the hit was in Q4, where expenditures of $9.735 million outweighed $7.45 million in revenue.

However, according to Tia Ford, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, those numbers don’t tell the whole story.

“The expenses reported are inclusive of both cash and noncash expenditures.  Noncash entries are for bookkeeping purposes only,” Ford said in a statement, “such as depreciation on heavy equipment.  Total cash expenditures year-to-date are $29,829,580, which is $1,070,049 less than revenue.  Also, it is important to note that FY15 has not yet been closed out; the report is reflective of values shown on the date it was produced.”

Regarding the Q4 imbalance, Ford offered this explanation.

“From a cash perspective, there were some increases in Q4 compared to Q3, but again, the delta shown in the report is a result of including noncash expenditures,” Ford wrote.

FloridaPolitics.com also requested an explanation of a $241,000 “miscellaneous revenue debit.”

Ford said that debit resulted from “the lag in receipts at this time of year, as the revenue from the 2015 tax bills comes in after the FY end; this revenue will cure the negative position when reconciled later in the year.”

A final question: did the decision on Budget night to move stormwater money to firefighter salaries “matter” in this instance, given the deficit? Was Council irresponsible in removing some of the buffer?

Ford cautioned against conflating the stormwater funds.

“Notwithstanding the explanation specific to the report,” Ford wrote, “the Council decision has no impact because the stormwater money contemplated by Council was in the Stormwater Capital Projects fund (462), while this report is only focused on the Stormwater Operating fund (461).”