Spending $43 million on improvements at EverBank Field headlines a capital projects plan submitted to the City Council Finance Committee.
The committee met Friday morning to debate which projects make it into the final proposal for the full Council to review. Projects could be removed from the list, while others may be added. Funding amounts could change, as well.
On Thursday, a Finance Committee panel led by Richard Clark, finalized its proposal for more than $93 million in projects, which includes submissions from all Council members. There are no names listed with specific suggestions.
One of the items calls for taking $5.8 million from what was a Downtown Development Fund to buy vehicles and computers for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
More than $30 million was pitched for road improvements and $7.4 million was slated for park upgrades.
Clark said the proposal represents "forward thinking" and allows the City to continue to maintain its roads, facilities and parks in a "proactive, smart" way.
Mayor Alvin Brown's budget included $30.7 million in capital projects, with no money set aside for the EverBank Field improvements.
The City and the Jacksonville Jaguars in June announced they would work together to find a way to pay for $63 million in stadium improvements. The Jaguars' part is $20 million to be used toward new scoreboards, which cost $26.5 million.
Clark said the projects plan was the logical choice for the EverBank improvements.
Asked about the potential criticism of using about half of the projects plan's total budget for the improvements, he said, "It doesn't matter what the project is, there are going to be naysayers. Whatever project we pick, there will be winners and losers. It's never easy."
He said the City owns the stadium and with Jaguars owner Shad Khan committing $30 million in private investment, allocating public funds for the project is needed.
The $9 million Downtown Development Fund was introduced this year by Brown and approved by Council.
It was part of $11 million for economic development that came from savings of refinancing City bonds.
The Finance Committee passed a motion Aug. 16 to take the Downtown funds and put them in the capital program for potential use during the budget review.
The Downtown Investment Authority in response passed a resolution asking for the funds to be retained.
Authority CEO Aundra Wallace did not return a call for comment on the proposal Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. Oliver Barakat, chair of the authority board, also did not return a call and an email for comment.
The Finance Committee will weigh in on the plan as part of its budget review starting at 9 a.m. today.
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