A.G. Gancarski
The office of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry reviewed the Planning and Development budget Thursday. Facilitating the review were CAO Sam Mousa and CFO Mike Weinstein.
The highlights:
- A spirited discussion of “performance measures” led off the meeting, regarding permits. Weinstein: “You don’t have any influence on how many permits you ask for, but you have influence on how many you give.”
- Fees will be down by roughly $30,000 year-over-year, based on underperformance of projections.
- Departmental budgets have been affected by the movement of some functions to neighborhoods.
- Construction inspection fees are down; companies are hiring their private engineers for roads, but the burden of final inspection ultimately is shifted to the city for roads. Look for fee adjustments.
- Among the enhancement requests: going to digital format for books, and providing end-users with iPads. “It’s just easier to carry,” said Planning and Development Director Bill Killingsworth. Book production is $40,000 a year; the cost of iPads for all end-users would be just $21,000. The strong suggestion is to find the money in their own budget.
- More money is requested for mobility studies.
- Matching funds are requested for TPO studies, to help leverage funds. Mousa wants the money to come out of the concurrency fee. Right now, the department is getting $100,000 with no match. The advantage of matching funds is, it gives the department a chance to “leverage in scope.” Mousa urges appropriation via fund balance. It’s a lean year without a ton of money for traffic studies.
- Building Inspection head Tom Goldsbury wants new building inspectors, an additional planning inspector, and an engineer. “Permits are still increasing,” and the expectation is a 15 percent per-year increase for the next three years, according to Northeast Florida Builders’ Association. Weinstein notes once the downturn comes, some people will be let go. Right now, there is a 97-person staff, down from 133 previously. There are also people “getting close to retirement,” so attrition impacts will feature.
