Mayor Alvin Brown made it clear Monday that he disagrees with Gov. Rick Scott over putting tolls on the Outer Beltway.
“I’m not for tolls,” Brown told the Meninak Club of Jacksonville. “I disagree with him on tolls.”
Brown said he has met with Scott four to five times during his first two months in office and thinks “we will have a good relationship.”
He rated his relationship with the governor as an “8-9 out of 10.”
As for his relationship with the Duval Delegation, he said a meeting last week was positive and said he thought “they’d be fine.”
Brown was Meninak’s keynote speaker to discuss how his administration will “take Jacksonville to the next level” and focused on his budget, his planned reorganization effort and goals in economic development and education.
His budget, which he said filled a $58 million deficit without taxes or fee increases, has been adjusted by the City Council Finance Committee. The Council will vote on the budget Sept. 27, just before the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year.
Those Council cuts, which have included items such as libraries, the Jacksonville Journey and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, are “on them,” he said after the meeting.
He intends to present a plan to reorganize City government after the budget is approved. He said it was “not just moving boxes.”
Much as he did during his meeting with the Duval Delegation, Brown told around 100 Meninak members that though the cuts will be “strategic and sharp,” he doesn’t want to hear outside lobbying for people to keep jobs.
“We can’t afford it,” he said. “You hire them (in the private sector).”
As for economic growth, Brown said education is the key and he will use his position to influence positive change.
“In order to close the economic gap, we have to close the education gap,” he said.
He referred to public-private partnerships, like those that have raised money to keep several school sports and JROTC off the chopping block.
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