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A.G. GancarskiNovember 16, 2015

A crowded agenda greeted the seven stalwart members of the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee on Monday, including economic development incentive deals. Some highlights: An economic development deal with Fidelity Global Brokerage group was approved. The city throws in $360,000 and the state, $1.44 million; 300 jobs would be created. Another one, “Project Revere,” creating […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 3, 2015

Jacksonville finally is on the verge of having a Charlotte’s Web bill, addressing cultivation, processing, and dispensing of low-THC cannabis. It comes after a tortuous process that spanned two classes of Jacksonville’s City Council, encompassed five months and two moratoriums, and took three joint workshops between Land Use and Zoning and the Planning Commission this fall. The […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 2, 2015

A crowded agenda greeted the Jacksonville City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday morning, ahead of two Public Notice meetings featuring Finance Chair Bill Gulliford on the ever-controversial Police and Fire Pension Fund. Matt Schellenberg’s bill to allow a ballot measure to increase the maximum number of consecutive terms for council members to three met with pushback from council Vice […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 27, 2015

Jacksonville’s City Council meeting on Tuesday night was light in terms of agenda items; expectations going in were for some fireworks on the Planning Commission removal of Lisa King and Joey McKinnon, and, perhaps, council scrutiny of the embattled Inspector General Thomas Cline. As expected, King and McKinnon were removed in favor of Lenny Curry […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 5, 2015

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee resumed on Monday morning after a three week hiatus. Highlights abounded. Finance Committee Chair Bill Gulliford addressed the stalled out forensic audit of the Police and Fire Pension Fund, and the preliminary findings were not good. Essentially, the auditor got stonewalled for “informational needs” and Gulliford urged that the Finance Committee […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 21, 2015

The Jacksonville City Council officially approved the FY 16 budget and related bills on Monday evening. Leading off the meeting, Council President Greg Anderson quipped, regarding the jampacked Chambers, “I wonder why you’re all here tonight.” The Capital Improvement Plan was approved without discussion or exception (though a floor amendment at the end changed that), as […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 21, 2015

During Monday’s Jacksonville City Council meeting, a resolution authorizing an inquiry into the legality and the validity of the Police and Fire Pension Fund Senior Staff Voluntary Retirement Plan was up for a vote. This measure got through Finance and Rules Committees last week on a 6-to-1 vote after it was pushed back to committees at the […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 2, 2015

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee continued its budget deliberations on Wednesday afternoon, with an eye toward same-day finalization of the budget. UF Health’s contribution from the city of Jacksonville was another cleanup item on the agenda. $26,275,594 is the proposed amount, unchanged from the previous year. Councilman Reggie Gaffney wondered what any extra money would go […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 31, 2015

The last Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee of August had more deferrals than Washington insiders had Vietnam War deferments. Still, the value is in the journey, not the destination. Here are the highlights. • “Everybody comfortable? I think you can hang meat in here.” – Councilman Bill Gulliford. • A non-exclusive Grant of Easement (2015-313) to […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 28, 2015

Jacksonville’s flawed Public Service Grants process got yet another review from the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee on Friday afternoon. Councilman John Crescimbeni again spotlighted the lack of funding, and how many of the organizations toward the bottom of the funding matrix suffer because of a lack of funding. The total request for all organizations: $3.78 […]

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Lake Mary’s team celebrates in the eighth inning of the Little League World Series Championship game against Taiwan. Florida won in eight innings 2-1. Image via AP.

Jax Finance Committee approves economic development deals

Jacksonville holds final Charlotte’s Web workshop

Jax Finance Committee backs staff pay increases, punts on term limit increase

Jax City Council OKs Planning Commission moves, scrutinizes inspector general

Jax Finance Committee proposes subpoena of PFPF forensic audit records

Jax City Council approves FY16 budget

Jax City Council OKs probe of pension fund senior staff retirement fund

Jax Finance Committee wrestles with UF Health funding woes

Sewage, sales tax hot topics in Jax Finance Committee on Monday

Finance adds $608K to Jax PSG funding for 6 agencies