Crafting a budget the size of Jacksonville’s combines the drive for priorities, acknowledging challenges and, at times, a little tough love.
Mayor Lenny Curry’s budget team did a little of each Wednesday.
The Jacksonville Journey is scheduled to stay the course.
The Supervisor of Elections Office is slated to receive enhancements.
The Office of Inspector General isn’t as fortunate, just yet.
Public safety continues to be one of the first priorities Curry mentions when it comes to running the city.
As such, the Journey programs year-to-year will receive the same amount of funding, even if budget books don’t currently show as much.
Last year, the anti-crime initiatives with a focus on at-risk youths received just more than $5 million for various programs.
It will receive the same in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 when close to $700,000 rolls over due to some program contracts starting so late.
A looming August primary and November general election had Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan asking for almost $120,000 in extras for the year ahead.
He received most of that, just more than $79,000, for expenses relating to those two elections.
Almost $42,000 will come in the form of Election Day pay bumps for the assistant managers ($200 to $225), deputy sheriffs ($170 to $200) and voting station technicians ($175 to $200) at Duval County’s 205 voting precincts.
Hogan said the increases were needed to help attract new workers for the day and fall in line with other payouts across the state.
The remaining money will be used to boost call center hours from 60 to 70 during early voting and 40 to 70 in the three weeks before to early voting.
With polarizing candidates for president, turnout in the November general election is expected to approach 90 percent, Hogan said.
The August primary generally attracts 40 percent to 50 percent, but could end up being more with various closed races and the half-cent sales tax referendum.
The elections office is one of the few so far approved for additions in what’s expected to be a tight budget.
The Office of Inspector General wasn’t so lucky.
The ask from former Inspector General Tom Cline would have been more than $300,000 to add several staff members. He resigned at the end of May.
The office has been under the guidance of former assistant general counsel Steve Rohan as an interim and he made some tweaks to Cline’s proposal. He was only asking for $132,000, enough to add a junior investigator and executive assistant for the office.
The committee, however, declined for now.
Sam Mousa, Curry’s chief administrative officer, was adamant about the office receiving some revenue from the independent authorities for work it does investigating them.
Similar calls have come from some City Council members.
The gist of it: The independent authorities need to pay for themselves. City money shouldn’t be doing that.
Until some form of agreement is reached on a way to pay, Mousa said the office’s enhancements request will be put on hold.
It’s still early. Council could always change the plans after Curry presents his budget July 18.
But for now, that’s the type of tough love many areas of government will receive.
@writerchapman
(904) 356-2466