A.G. Gancarski
On Tuesday, the office of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry reviewed the budget of Sports and Entertainment and the Office of Economic Development, ahead of formal submission of the budget to City Council in July.
Facilitating the review: Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa.
The highlights from Sports and Entertainment:
- Active discussion of the Florida/Georgia Hall of Fame event, which is slated to lose $30,000. Mousa and CFO Mike Weinstein balked at the $50,000 allocation for the event in a tight General Fund budget year, urging that it come out of the department’s trust fund.
- $41,000 of storage costs at the Ed Ball building, in the basement, likewise drew scrutiny from Mousa. “That’s a big chunk,” Mousa said.
- A $30,000 uptick in security guard costs, for event security, also drew scrutiny. The original projection was $70,000. The Sea and Sky event in October was said by S&E head Dave Herrell to impose a burden.
- Equipment rentals: up $328,527. Florida/Georgia temporary seating and a “club seat riser” is categorized under equipment rentals, imposing the burden in that category.
- An extra $314K for event contribution includes $100K from the General Fund for tickets for Florida/Georgia, which Herrell said was to go in the trust fund. Mousa: “You can’t do that. You can’t charge the trust fund 100 grand. This isn’t the year to do that.” These tickets are contracted as mandatory purchases. There is, however, no guarantee that all the tickets would sell.
- The sports trust fund has just $97,778 in it.
- “Do we have anything else for Sports and Entertainment before we go to enhancements? It’s going to be a very quick discussion” – Mousa
- Navy/Notre Dame football game has a max cap of $350,000 on expenses.
- Mousa notes next year’s Gate River Run will be the 40th anniversary of the event; the mayor apparently wants a celebration in the core of downtown. “With as tight a budget as this is … I can’t see us doing it unless the mayor explicitly directs it,” says Mousa. Weinstein recommends deferral.
- Herrell notes his office does not have a contract compliance specialist, which is a real impact. Herrell wants more personnel; Mousa wants to find “existing resources from somewhere,” and wants to “get a better understanding of your group’s duties, your duties … and put the monkey on my back to find existing resources from the city to get to your side. Mousa wants a “detailed briefing” to that end.
- The jazz festival, despite its rave reviews this year, is a money loser. Mousa notes any liquor sales must be donated to a nonprofit according to state law. This could result in a quarter-million dollar hit. The money could be given to a nonprofit, and the budgetary sleight-of-hand could be worked via public service grants budget offsets. Herrell says this revenue hit “could be problematic.” Mousa: “It could be cheaper if we don’t sell liquor, because these are upside-down events anyway. Herrell countered with bed tax and indirect cost arguments, while Weinstein noted it could be cheaper if these events aren’t done, period.
- Everyone was being facetious in the last bullet point. Of course.
- Mousa’s pushing to have the special events trust fund pay for Florida/Georgia seats, via its $1.8M balance. Herrell is not enthusiastic.
