Jax mayor’s office reviews Office of Economic Development budget

Sam Mousa and Mike Weinstein review a city of Jacksonville departmental budget

On Tuesday, the annual budget review of Jacksonville’s Office of Economic Development was conducted by Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa.

The most interesting takeaway: surplus incentive funds that won’t be used, with a reduction in allocation year over year.

The highlights:

•  OED head Kirk Wendland is prepared to reduce QTI and Rev Grant monies by $400,000 in total year over year.
• “I don’t know that I can specifically identify which ones I want to reduce,” Wendland says, but he wants to lop $100,000 off QTI and the balance off Rev Grants.
• A million dollars of QTI monies and Rev Grant monies remain in the current budget. Wendland doesn’t anticipate much of that being used. $750,000 will be used as cash carryover to help make up Rev Grant and QTI cash in the FY 17 budget.
• A real estate development position, to help with Northwest Jacksonville initiatives, remains vacant. The right candidate has not been located.
• There have been land sales at Cecil Field (the GE Property), with money from the Cecil Trust going into the OED operating fund, with the benefit spread out over time. The General Fund used to make this fund whole. There is $500,000 in the fund, which could be swept into the general fund.
• On to tax increment districts. The JIA district has a property tax increase of somewhere over $550,000. Project Rex may be eligible for some money if that gets online.
• Moncrief/Soutel is next. Councilman Reggie Brown apparently has a list of projects with costs from public works, totaling $1.47 million. A road widening project: $750,000. Beyond that, sidewalks and other public works projects.
• A recurrent pressure: budgeting money, but having to use it for an itemized cost before it lapses and goes to fund balance.
• “Do whatever you have to do to hold these monies toward the Arlington CRA,” Mousa says.
• Discussion then moves toward allocation of such issues as the Rogero Roundabout, before Chief of Staff Kerri Stewart notes there will be plenty of projects in the five-year plan to allocate funds toward Arlington anyway.