One group of City Council members drew the line: Don’t use reserves to balance the budget.
The collective body ended up crossing it.
Council members passed a 2014-15 budget after 2 a.m. today, more than eight hours after it convened. The budget passed 18-1, with Reggie Brown the lone nay vote.
In the process, they also went against the efforts of the Finance Committee that spent many days throughout August and September reshaping a budget that started with about a $60 million hole. That gap was largely created by refusing to borrow money and use city reserves to balance Mayor Alvin Brown’s proposed budget.
Instead, the committee implemented a 2 percent across-the-board cut to all city departments when it couldn’t find about $8.5 million needed to finalize its proposal.
The full council ended up eliminating that 2 percent cut, after hours of discussion that began Tuesday evening on more than two dozen floor amendments.
Late-arriving figures from the Property Appraiser’s Office showed $3.4 million in additional revenue and there was a net bump of $1.7 million in ambulance fees that came from Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
But $3.1 million from reserves was needed to fill in the remainder. That included other additions not related to the 2 percent cut — $280,000 was taken to restore seven Victim Services positions and services along with $236,000 for the Jacksonville Children’s Commission for a position and programs.
The discussion on restoring the lapse took the longest amount of time, clocking in at just over an hour with arguments on both sides.
Finance Chair Richard Clark for months has argued for the city to have a “live within your means” budget by not spending more than revenue allows. He said he could support the new revenue, but couldn’t support using reserves for the rest of the gap. Bill Gulliford and Bill Bishop voiced similar concerns.
On the other side, Robin Lumb and Warren Jones spoke in favor of the measures, with Lumb saying the combined effort prevents “fundamental damage” to city services the 2 percent cut would have caused.
Ultimately, the vote passed 12-7, with Greg Anderson, Brown, Doyle Carter, John Crescimbeni, Kimberly Daniels, Johnny Gaffney, Jones, Stephen Joost, Denise Lee, Jim Love, Lumb and Don Redman in support.
The nays were Bishop, Lori Boyer, Clark, Gulliford, Ray Holt, Matt Schellenberg and Clay Yarborough — all members of the Finance Committee. Yarborough is council president and considered a part of each committee.
Clark said afterward he was a “little disappointed” with the result of taking the $3 million from reserves, but praised the group for trimming government through about $57 million in cuts.
“We came a long way,” he said.
Yarborough said the group made tough decisions and the resulting budget is one of which taxpayers should be proud.
Some of those taxpayers came out to voice their concerns about the budget, spending hours in public comment and public hearings to lobby for their causes.
Chief among the concerns were funding for public safety and the Jacksonville Children’s Commission along with keeping open the Maxville library and Matrix House, a drug and rehabilitation center, open.
Council actions throughout the evening accomplished all of those.
Not all of the wants were met with approval, though.
For several years in a row, Redman has sought to defund the Human Rights Commission. His latest attempt again was met with failure, as the $263,399 takeaway didn’t receive a second for discussion. The commission also didn’t receive about $192,000 to restore three positions, as Jones sought to do with his motion. It was denied 11-7.
Spending $82,000 for Clara White Mission was rejected by an 11-7 vote. Daniels pushed for the funding for additional days for the homeless service provider.
Brown’s idea of spending $173,586 for Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business mentoring program also went down in defeat. One of his final amendments, supporting a pay increase for council members, also was shot down.
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