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A.G. GancarskiJune 26, 2017

Jacksonville, like all major Florida cities, faces health challenges. And the Health Department budget, via City Hall, is a great starting point to seeing priorities. One such priority has to do with Jacksonville’s youngest residents: the aftermath of a lapsed co-location with Agape Health Services, which has now secured other space on the Westside. They […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 26, 2017

The office of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry continued its budget review Monday, with a romp through the Finance and Administration budget. The department is more fully-staffed than it was two years ago, when it was “decimated,” per Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa, yet points for discussion abounded. As is often the case with these hearings, the news […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 20, 2017

Just months ago, Jacksonville passed its pension reform package, which will give the city approximately $150M of budget relief from costs of its unfunded pension liability in terms of next year’s budget. While raises for city workers, to be phased in over the next three fiscal years, will consume a lot of that relief, rest […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 16, 2017

As part of our continuing coverage of the budget process in Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry’s office, we were on hand for Friday’s consideration of non-departmental expenditures heading into the next fiscal year. The biggest news? A potential increase of the city’s emergency reserve level, something that was discussed in Jacksonville City Council committees months back. The city […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 16, 2017

A year ago, when the city of Jacksonville was formulating its budget, there was a different State Attorney in Florida’s 4th Circuit. Angela Corey was running for her third term, facing a challenge from the woman who destroyed her in the GOP Primary months later: Melissa Nelson. Nelson ran on a platform of “smart justice,” a […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 15, 2017

When Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry ran for office, he pledged to revive the Jacksonville Journey. Once in office, Curry took steps to do just that, reviving and rebranding the John Peyton initiative as Jax Journey, a Version 2.0 of the original. As Curry nears the halfway mark of his first term, his office deals with the reality of […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 14, 2017

Wednesday morning saw the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department discuss particulars of the upcoming budget with the Mayor’s Office. JFRD faces a number of pressures: a staffing shortfall, challenges from the uptick in opioid overdoses, and equipment needs. As was the case with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, enhancements were certainly going to be […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 13, 2017

As the office of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry gears up to release its third budget, an interesting area of inquiry is the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. A real tension in Curry Administration planning in preceding years has been balancing an austerity-level city budget with the need to ramp up public safety. In 2016, some items were crossed […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 7, 2017

Councilman Danny Becton‘s bill (2017-348) obligating the city of Jacksonville to earmark 15 percent of all budget increases to paying down pension debt until 2031 has not met favor with Mayor Lenny Curry. It did no better in the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee … where it was panned by most members before the bill was “put out […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 12, 2017

A Wednesday afternoon meeting of the Jacksonville City Council was intended to facilitate deeper inquiry into Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry‘s ambitious pension reform package. However, the big news was the downward impact of adjustments to payroll growth projections and COLA calculations after Monday’s meeting of the Police and Fire Pension Fund. “We still save a lot. […]

Tag: Mike Weinstein

Health Department concerned about infant mortality in Jacksonville

Jax Mayor’s Office plows through Finance & Administration budget

Hard choices loom for Lenny Curry’s staff in Jax capital budget

Jacksonville considers raising emergency reserve level

IT the focus of Melissa Nelson’s first budget as State Attorney

Looming reforms cast cloud over Jax Journey budget

Jax Fire and Rescue wrestles with staffing, equipment shortfalls

Jax Sheriff seeks budget enhancements in next fiscal year

Jax Council committee downs extra pension payment bill; Lenny Curry wins again

‘Slight adjustments’ drive City Council pushback to Jax pension reform projections