Mayor Lenny Curry’s budget proposal came in relatively flat year-over-year.
Last year, it was a little more than $1 billion. This year, just a little more than that.
The biggest difference might have been the tone and substance.
In his first weeks of office in July 2015, Curry laid out a spending plan with optimism, a rallying cry of “One City, One Jacksonville” and enthusiasm for a budget “that is all about action.”
“Love will transform this city,” he said at the time.
On Monday, Curry’s presentation was steeped in a barebones mentality caused by the pressure of escalating pension payments.
It isn’t love that will transform this city this time. It’s an Aug. 30 referendum that could extend a half-cent sales tax to be used to pay down pension debt — the loudest rallying cry by the mayor in recent months.
Whatever the outcome of that vote, it won’t have much of an impact in the 2016-17 spending plan.
Sure, there’s $3.5 million Curry is setting aside for future pension payments should the ballot measure not succeed. But any financial relief, as much as $40 million annually, is for another year.
Instead, in a fiscal year that’s in pension limbo, Curry said he was forced to say no — a lot.
No for incentivizing Downtown projects like the Laura Street Trio, the Shipyards and Berkman II.
No for extra fire stations and 120 more fire department personnel.
No to restoring 13,000 previously cut library hours.
No for above-minimum road resurfacing and sidewalk repairs.
No to groups who sought funding for services.
The list went on.
“I’ve had to say no … because I simply must,” Curry said.
Unfunded pensions costs, instead, are “eating alive” the budget.
Like he did last year, though, Curry did prioritize public safety. His budget again adds 40 police officers and 40 community service officers, the latter of which handle non-criminal calls.
The additional personnel add is about $4.4 million of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s $424 million proposed budget.
And there’s money available for a body camera pilot program, a move Curry calls good for the community and law enforcement.
He said when it came to funding priorities, he started with the Sheriff’s Office and worked his way down.
On the fire department side, while the extra personnel and stations won’t be available, it did receive some perks in its $222 million breakdown.
There’s $7.5 million this year for vehicles, some grant positions will carry over and a dispatch system it shares with the sheriff’s office will be replaced for $2.7 million.
City landscaping will take a hit. Extra money wasn’t available for city rights-of-way and other areas to be mowed more than eight times a year. Curry said 12-15 times a year is what probably is needed.
The capital improvement plan for the year is a little more than $83 million, up from the $71 million sought in 2015-16. That plan initially had $5 million to fix the Liberty Street collapse, an amount later boosted to $17 million.
Highlights from this year’s plan include $6 million more for that riverfront parcel, $11.5 million for a Trail Ridge Landfill expansion, $12 million for roadway resurfacing and $5.5 million for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance with curbs and sidewalks.
Outside of the budget, Curry also announced he will file legislation to provide $15 million for a septic tank phase-out program that will begin in Northwest Jacksonville. That money comes from negotiations with JEA that took place this year.
All told, many of the enhancements this year likely would have been celebrated the past decade when economic times were tougher.
While Curry lauds the boosts to areas like public safety, his tone Monday indicated more was needed. It certainly was more urgent than last year, a tone likely to reach its pinnacle Aug. 30.
If successful, next year’s budget address might be a little more optimistic.
If not, the narrow boosts in some areas this year might seem monumental by comparison.
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