A.G. Gancarski
The Jacksonville mayor’s office budget reviews continued bright and early Wednesday morning, with the city council’s budget subjected to the tender mercies of Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa and Chief Financial Officer Mike Weinstein.
There was little controversy. And in the case of the council, look for increased spending. And look for John Crescimbeni to, at long last, hire an ECA, removing the oldest joke in his repertoire at last.
- On the council side, three positions have been added by incoming Council President Lori Boyer: two in staff services, and one in the Value Added Board. One of the staff services positions is unfunded. A legislative assistant position has also been added.
- There have been salary increases, which are a function of keeping staff, in the Council Auditor’s office.
- $81,000 in extra money will go to an IT allocation, which includes database updates.
- There will also be a new pot of money for mailers from council members — $42,000 in total, between copy center and internal services charges.
- The communications allowance went up roughly $10,000, a function of what members say they will do next year. It maxes out at $100 per month for personal cellphones. While using city cellphones was discussed in a special committee, that ended up not being the move.
- And then, an example of synergy across departments.
Mousa and Council Auditor Kirk Sherman noted there are salary bumps intended to keep people on staff, Mousa stressing they were not raises. “We’d appreciate your support on this, as we will support you … we’re looking at the most critical components of the mayor’s priorities,” Mousa said to Sherman, referring to salary bumps in code enforcement and the “decimated” Finance Department, which was “something that Councilwoman Boyer kept beating us up on last year.”
“It’s been structured review. It’s been allocated properly … the time has come when you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to keep people coming to work for you.”
- Another interesting note: a vacant ECA position, for VP-designate John Crescimbeni, is requested to be funded at $55,000; however, the position will be funded at entry level plus 5 percent.
- Revenue from the bed tax is expected to bump up by $500,000 next year. Go Jaguars.
- Mousa pressed for 25 percent of Tourist Development Council fund money over $6 million (roughly “$250-$300,000” said Mousa, as the fund sits at roughly $7.4 million) to be used for improvements at the Equestrian Center and the purchase of temporary seats for EverBank Field. The idea: to alleviate the burden on the general fund. Sherman cautioned “loading it into the budget would be presumptuous.” Mousa’s justification: the money is for capital improvements, not “fixing roof leaks.” Sherman also cautioned the TDC doesn’t want to dump money into sports facilities. Mousa agreed the “stadium, the baseball grounds, and the coliseum” would be excluded from these funds, but the Ritz or Drew Park (a hotbed of little league baseball tournaments, apparently) was not.
