by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
If the votes recorded at the City Council’s Finance Committee meeting are any indication, the City will make good on outstanding Super Bowl-related invoices before the end of the month and also manage to satisfy debt elsewhere.
The committee members kept their comments brief before voting 5-1 this week to pay off the $1.8 million in expenses that were racked up as part of the Super Bowl Host Committee’s efforts to promote and manage event operations for the February 6 game, only saying they wanted absolute assurance that the City never again would be asked to pay for anything related to Super Bowl XXXIX.
They got that assurance and those overruns are expected to be covered exclusively by surplus hotel bed tax
dollars.
The Duval County Tourist Development Council authorized a $602,000 grant last week. The City’s contribution should cover the rest.
Originally, the Mayor’s Office proposed that any Host Committee debt be satisfied by using the bed tax revenue and about $600,000 that had been budgeted but not spent on Super Bowl-related overtime at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Last month, Council members said they wanted to look for a way to keep the JSO money, which would revert back to the City’s slimmed down general fund.
But now it seems those surplus Super Bowl dollars will be headed to another account.
Between the Super Bowl legislation’s May 10 introduction and last week, the administration determined that all unbudgeted JSO overtime hours — almost $1.2 million — should be contributed to the Sheriff’s Office pension fund instead of being returned to the General Fund.
According to the Mayor’s Office, the City had, without knowing it, made contributions at a rate much lower than what was required for some time. That rate, which in recent years had hovered around 7 percent, had jumped to more than 11 points and later even more.
The City and The Sheriff’s Office said it would be wise to make good that shortfall sooner than later.
“The hole is bigger than we thought and we need to address that,” said Paul Crawford, a policy director in Mayor John Peyton’s office. “We’re one year out of sync with the correct rate and it makes sense to pay for this Super Bowl-related expense with Super Bowl-related revenue.”