by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
You need the better part of both hands to count the number of budget hearings the City Council Finance Committee held this year in an effort to balance the proposed fiscal year 2009-10 budget.
You need an abacus to count the number of hours the committee spent dissecting the $993 million budget and the various City departments that contribute to it.
Thursday evening, you may need a pot of coffee to make it to the end of the special full Council meeting that’s been called to address the budget and only the budget. In addition to all 19 Council members having the opportunity to express their opinions on the budget at least once, the public will finally get its say in a formal setting. There have been several town hall meetings on the budget, but Thursday the public will also get to address the full Council.
Finance Chair Stephen Joost isn’t expecting fireworks, but he does know this year’s budget — and a couple of aspects of it in particular — has generated some emotion.
“I expect a lot of public comment,” said Joost after Monday’s regular Finance meeting.
Joost said he has gotten plenty of e-mails on the budget and most center on two things: people either don’t want their property taxes to go up or they don’t want to see the number of police officers on the street reduced. Joost realizes there may not be any middle ground on the issue.
“I think the sheriff needs to work with us,” he said.
At the outset of the budget hearings, Council President Richard Clark proposed an across-the-board cut of 3 percent for those areas of the budget that could be cut. For the most part, that meant everything was fair game except the pension contributions the City is obligated to make. That 3 percent also included a majority of Sheriff John Rutherford’s budget. During the Sept. 3 budget hears, Rutherford lobbied for two hours to keep his 3 percent, assuring layoffs and entire programs will get cut. Thursday, he’ll get his chance to appeal to the entire Council, but Joost isn’t sure it’ll matter.
“I feel like we have set this to where everybody is equitably participating in it,” said Joost, adding about half his e-mails are in support of the budget cuts and higher property taxes while the other half are strongly against higher taxes.
Under Mayor John Peyton’s proposed budget, the millage rate would have gone up to 9.45. It also would have gone up for the first time in 13 years. When the Council voted against the higher rate and Peyton refused to veto the Council’s vote, the millage rate was automatically set at 9.2727, which then determined the exact budget the Finance Committee was working with when looking at each department.
Thursday, the millage rate, the budget, the City Capital Improvement Plan and its banking fund are the only items on the agenda.
Peggy Sidman of the Office of General Counsel reminded the Finance Committee Monday that the full Council can only vote Thursday to lower the millage rate.
Council Auditor Kirk Sherman said the vote Thursday is still technically tentative. The final vote is expected Sept. 29. He also said in year’s past the full Council would have held the public hearing about two weeks earlier.
“We wanted to give you the most time possible,” he said.
Once the tentative budget is passed, the public will be able to review it — but not comment on or make changes — for about a week.
The Finance Committee did approve several bills Monday that now head to the full Council:
• Shands Jacksonville will likely gets its annual contribution from the City. The approved amount is $23.8 million.
• The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office will provide security on behalf of the Jacksonville Port Authority during military deployments at Blount Island Terminal. The agreement began June 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2011. The officers will be working overtime.
• Finance approved a bill that should allow the City to take advantage of a $7.6 million grant from the federal government. Thursday, Finance approved $250,000 for the City to hire RS&H, which will produce a strategic plan, explaining how the City would use the balance of the $7.6 million. The money is coming from the United States Department of Energy through and Energy Efficiency Conservation Grant.
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