A.G. Gancarski
On Tuesday, the Jacksonville Mayor’s Budget Review Committee performed an omnibus wrap up session, as budget review ends Wednesday.
The usual players were analyzing the budgets: Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa, CFO Mike Weinstein, and Chief of Staff Kerri Stewart.
The Tuesday session dealt with the “short list” of potential enhancements, bolstered by some small increase in property tax revenues, and a discussion of $6.7 million available in one-time money, with $1.77 million appropriated from the current year’s fund balance.
The goal: to “come to zero-balance through using one-time dollars for one-time expenses,” said Mousa, as opposed to for “recurring expenses.”
Note: “For the benefit of reporters: these are all recommendations. These are not final conclusions.”
— The computer-aided dispatch system for the sheriff’s office came up first. There’s no impact on the budget this year, which would be a year to lay the groundwork on the IT end. So that looks to be moving forward.
— A discussion came up next to the Teen Court system, which did not make a short list. There is a fund for such things. This led Mousa to talk about departments for which the city was able to find the money they needed for certain things in professional services budgets.
— The mayor wanted to set aside $5 million for pension contribution for FY 18, in addition to what is required for FY 17. The idea, said Mousa, is “to be conservatively frugal.” However, “the mayor may decide not to do that, and hire 40 police officers and 40 CSO’s instead,” at a cost of $4.3 million for six months. “Those are some of the decisions that he is going to have to decide,” Mousa said. That cost is “the whole kit and caboodle,” including ancillary costs such as uniforms.
— “This budget so far has no enhancements. Zero. And we’re still not at the level we need to be,” Mousa said, noting that “we’re just not keeping up with our services,” such as “deteriorating” infrastructure and mowing only eight times a year. “We’re not providing the services we used to provide, and the answer is simple. Pension. Pension is eating us alive.”
— Degree verification is “finally finished,” said Mousa, and “there will be very few that we hire next year” who require a college degree. That’s out.
— JFRD promotional testing: there’s budget for five tests, but they think they’re going to need eight. If needed, money can be found somewhere, said Mousa.
— Vendor contracts for drug and alcohol testing and occupational health are up. Carespot will get the former, St. Vincent’s the latter. Expectations are costs will go up. The current budget is set at 2011 prices. The budget will hold at the current level.
— Ethics expects $25,000 from the independent agencies; the Inspector General expects $125,000. Any enhancements to these budgets would have to come as council amendments, and the board could subsidize these moves.
— Accounting looks poised to get three unfunded positions, two of them entry-level; “they’ll have to find their own money in Finance and Administration,” said Mousa. There have been staffing issues; people get trained and then move on to other departments, such as the JSO.
— Money [$26,875] will be allocated for the grant management system. “That one will make us money,” said Mousa. Stewart likes the streamlining of the process; Weinstein thinks “it will make our nonprofit dollars go farther.”
— A fire station on the capital list is “just going to have to wait.”
— A new automated fingerprint system will be recommended to the mayor. If he wants it, $1.9 million will come from elsewhere. This will be an “alert” item, said Mousa.
— Cell doors for the jail are in the CIP.
— Weinstein pitched the idea of 30 officers and 10 or 20 community service officers. Mousa said it could be “20 and 20.” They could pay for the fingerprinting upgrade.
— “Rugged laptops” got a cooler reaction from Mousa, who said, “they can always move money around.”
— 40 new correctional officers? Nope.
— “They have a very large budget,” said Mousa of the JSO, “and they’re known to estimate high … they’re very creative and can find a lot of this in their current budget.”
— “We won’t be able to brief the sheriff,” said Mousa, “until after we meet with the mayor.”
— The JSO helicopter situation: “two very old, antiquated helicopters out there … helicopters that are uninsurable,” said Mousa. Risk management has funds for half a helicopter, amassed over time. If a new helicopter is procured, the old helicopter will be turned into a parts unit. This will be another “alert” item.
— Additional funds for the TaxSlayer Bowl? Nope.
— First Tee, a city golf course, wants $100K. Nope.
— The water taxis will get $120,000 in recurring match funds, to sync up with donations as they come in, out of Parks’ operating budget.
— Looks like more building inspectors will be brought aboard. The mechanics of that are still being worked out, but that department is self-sufficient.
— Security cameras citywide? Not happening. Cameras, where they are, will be fixed as needed.
— There may be an “overall big security package” to be dealt with later.
— Money will be moved toward traffic engineering, especially related to signal improvements … the signal heads, the right turn lanes, and so on. Weinstein notes “this is one of the areas we’re not keeping up with.” It looks like $125,000 will be moved into contractual services in the Public Works budget. The CIP budget will have signal upgrade money in it, related to flashers for school zones: $500,000 to “remotely adjust school zone flashing times.”
— Mousa wants to know how much is needed for sidewalk and ADA enhancements. Mousa said, “this may be a balanced budget, but here’s a list of what we’re not doing … we may have an $80 to $90 million CIP, but what we really need is a $400 million CIP.”
