by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Although the official review process is still months away, the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission has already compiled its proposed 2003/04 operating budget. JEDC executive director Kirk Wendland presented the $7.2 million budget to JEDC commissioners recently for expected approval, but there are several steps and revisions left.
“There is always tweaking,” said Wendland of a budget dominated by two line items: salaries/benefits ($2.5 million) and aid to private organizations ($1.98 million).
The rest of the budget includes travel expenses, professional (legal) services, supplies and several other items. Before the next mayor presents the final budget to City Council, Wendland expects the line items to go through several changes, but very little change regarding the bottom line. In fact, the proposed budget is only .3 percent above last year’s approved budget of $7.184 million. Many of those changes will be made by the Council’s Finance Committee and the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee.
“A lot of the costs we can’t determine right now,” said Wendland. “We have indirect costs and legal fees and right now we don’t know exactly what those will be. So, I put them as flat.”
Another item, surprisingly, that’s flat from last year’s budget to the proposed budget is salaries and benefits. Wendland explained that it’s easier to submit that item as flat because it’s impossible to determine at this time what, if any, raises will be granted by the mayor for his department.
“If in the budget I figure the raises will be three percent and they aren’t, people say, ‘What the [mild explicative],’ “ said Wendland. “We’ll probably get the same as the other departments — 2-3 percent. That’s not 2-3 percent for everyone, but 3 percent for me to dole out.”
One item budgeted significantly higher than last year is travel. Wendland is asking for $104,650, which is a 27.9 percent jump from the 2002/03 budget. Like last year, Wendland expects this item will be trimmed significantly, but defended the amount.
“We do a lot of training and some national certification of our employees in order to raise the level of professionalism,” said Wendland. “A lot of training can be done here, but some of it requires travel.”
The most noticeable proposed increase involves printing costs. Last year, Council approved $57,848 for printed communications. This year, Wendland is asking for $103,035, a 78.1 percent increase. Wendland said much of that increase is for printing costs associated with reproducing outdated material and JEDC-related material that will include either the next mayor’s name or correspondence from the next mayor.
“When we give seminars on the Empowerment Zones or the latest Northwest [Economic Development Trust Fund] information, we like to include written material and it takes funding to provide that sort of stuff,” said Wendland. “There are spikes in that item from year-to-year depending on how much things change.”
Two other items in the budget stand out, not because of how much, but how little is itemized. For both “improvements” and “machinery and equipment” Wendland has budgeted $1. There’s a pretty simple explanation, actually.
“It’s really a silly procedural matter,” said Wendland. “If I have zero in the budget for machinery and equipment and during the year someone needs a new printer that costs $1,000, I have to go to Council for a budget amendment. If I have $1 in the budget, I can do a transfer of funds through MBRC.”
Overall, Wendland is proud of his budget, especially considering the number of jobs created and new businesses the JEDC has lured to Jacksonville and the millions of dollars they have generated.
“Over the last few years we have done a good job of keeping it [the budget] flat,” said Wendland. “We have an edict around here that we won’t ask for more money, we’ll just manage with what we get. I’d like to add in our film and international departments, but the funds are not there.”